Women, Land and Agriculture in Rural India

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of issues related to women in agriculture in India with a view to provide directions to UN Women for future programmatic interventions and policy advocacy to address the gender gaps in agriculture. The central point made in the paper is that despite women’s vital contribution to agriculture and allied sectors in India, they lack control over productive assets (land, livestock, fisheries, technologies, credit, finance, markets etc.), face biases due to socio-cultural practices, experience gender differentials in agricultural wages and decisions concerning crop management and marketing.