Despite several existing legal provisions to provide equal rights for women and men, Indian women agricultural workers remain restricted from getting their agricultural entitlements due to various socio-cultural reasons including discriminatory gendered norms. The study attempts to understand the accessibility of entitlements among women agricultural workers in the Goalpara district of Assam – the region where women’s dependency on agriculture is overwhelming. The study is based on a mixed-methods approach, using data collected from the field survey. The study reveals that rural agricultural women workers face substantial hindrances in accessing basic agricultural entitlements like land, credit and modern technology, making them socially and economically vulnerable.
AdamsJS (1965) Inequity in social exchange. In: L. Berkowitz (Ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.
2.
AgarwalB (2020) Does group farming empower rural women? Lessons from India’s experiments. The Journal of Peasant Studies47(4): 841–872.
3.
ChankrajangTVechbanyongratanaJ (2020) Land, ladies, and the law: a case study on women’s land rights and welfare in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century. The Economic History Review74(1): 138–163.
4.
CrosbyR (1982) Self-concept development. Journal of School Health52(7): 432–436.
5.
DevereuxS (2001) Sen’s entitlement approach: critiques and counter-critiques. Oxford Development Studies29(3): 245–263.
6.
Government of India (GoI) (2019) Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2017-18. New Delhi, India: GoI.
7.
HaqueTGoyalA (2021) Access to institutional credit by farmers in eastern India. Journal of Asian Development Research. Epub ahead of print 30August. DOI: 10.1177/2633190X211040622.
8.
HazarikaKSitaV (2020) Predicament of landlessness: a critical study of women’s rights over land in Assam. South Asian Survey27(1): 19–36.
9.
JacobsS (2002) Land reform: still a goal worth pursuing for rural women?Journal of International Development14(6): 887–898.
OmvedtG (1978) Women and rural revolt in India. The Journal of Peasant Studies5(3): 370–403.
16.
PattnaikILahiri-DuttK (2021) Do women like to farm? Evidence of growing burdens of farming on women in rural India. The Journal of Peasant Studies49: 629–651.
17.
PattnaikILahiri-DuttKLockieS, et al. (2017) The feminization of agriculture or the feminization of agrarian distress? Tracking the trajectory of women in agriculture in India. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy23(1): 138–155.
18.
ReddyDN (2013) Formal credit and rural occupational diversification: recent experience in India. Journal of Land and Rural Studies1(1): 1–24.
19.
SangwanSS (2016) Developmental setbacks in North-East India: the role of bank credit. Social Change46(1): 70–90.
20.
SenA (1984) Rights and capabilities. In: SenA. (Ed.) Resources, values and development (pp. 307–324). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
21.
SinghGSinghGKotwaliwaleN (1999) A report on agricultural production and processing technologies for women in India. Gender, Technology and Development3(2): 259–278.
22.
SinghM (2010) Empowerment of women: gaps in technology diffusion. Social Change40(4): 563–576.
23.
VattaK (2003) Microfinance and poverty alleviation. Economic and Political Weekly38: 432–433.
24.
WalsterEWalsterGWBerscheidE (1978) Equity: Theory and Research. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
