Recasting Citizenship for Development - File UPI

266 M. INDIRA
Table 12.2
Trends in the Composition of Rural Workers
Category Men % Women % Total %
2001 Census
Main workers 167,812,785 44.57 60,060,841 16.86 227,873,626 31.10
Marginal workers 29,457,579 7.82 50,454,815 14.17 79,912,394 10.91
Non-workers 179,241,984 47.61 245,662,759 68.97 424,904,743 57.99
Total workers 197,270,364 52.39 110,515,656 31.03 307,786,020 42.01
Total Population 376,512,348 100.00 356,178,415 100.00 732,690,763 100.00
1991 Census
Main workers 166,067,847 51.76 55,926,401 18.57 221,994,248 35.69
Marginal workers 2,302,866 0.72 24,392,740 8.10 26,695,606 4.29
Non-workers 152,460,213 47.52 220,771,607 73.32 373,231,820 60.01
Total workers 168,370,713 52.48 80,319,141 26.68 248,689,854 39.99
Total Population 320,839,126 100.00 301,098,600 100.00 621,937,726 100.00
Source: http://www.censusindia.net/results/2001_census_Prov_Workers_Table1.xls.
The number of rural female marginal workers had doubled from nearly
24 million to 50 million between 1991 and 2001. Increased competition
in the product market forced producers to reduce on production costs,
and since women’s labour is cheaper than men’s (the wages paid to women
labourers are less than those paid to men), more women are employed as
agricultural labourers. Women became the disposable factor of production
in Indian agriculture (Muller and Patel 2005). The share of non-workers
among women has declined from 73.32 to 68.97 per cent.
The greater participation of women in the agricultural workforce
increases their contribution to household expenditure. In recent decades,
while rural male labour has tended to move away from agricultural to
rural non-agricultural labour, rural female labour has remained largely
confined to agriculture (see Kapadia 1999). Earlier studies in south India
indicate that among casual labour households, women bear the bulk of
household expenditures (Kapadia 1996; Mencher 1985, 1988; Mencher
and Saradamoni 1982).
However, in order to understand whether this work participation has
translated into empowerment, women’s position in the household has to
be understood because that is what determines her empowerment. It has
been observed that participation in agricultural work does not in itself
give women the power to take decisions (Sharma 1980), and that economic
contribution itself does not necessarily empower women (Kabeer 1994).