Asian Journal of Management

Nidhi Dwivedy ¹

Affiliations
1 Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT), Management Department, Majitar, Sikkim, IN

Abstract

The topic of the researcher is "Role of female labour in farming sector: a study of state of Sikkim". Various parameters have been studied under this heading of which farming female's view to opt for any other activity to augment their income along with farming is one of them. The engagement of women in economic activities in Sikkim is widespread, ranging from the formal to the informal sector; even though a majority of the activities women perform in the informal sector are of "invisible" nature, which may not be considered as economic activities. Women's participation in the formal sector is improved with access to education and therefore as more women get educated and acquire the requisite skills, they are increasingly being engaged in the formal sector with a few of them in senior positions in the government jobs. But, at the same time women's participation in the formal sector with lower access to education is confined to low profitable jobs. However, considering that woman make up the majority of the people in the farming sector with low accessibility, it is disheartening to note that their socio-economic condition is pitiable. This fact therefore motivated the researcher to study the present status of females involved in the farming sector in the state of Sikkim and suggest few points that will help women to achieve the best first for them and then also for the state. The present study has analyzed the existing information about the extent of the membership of farming females and presented the findings pertaining to this parameter. For this, data was collected from 230 female farmers through interviews using a pre-designed schedule from 24 circles from all the four districts of Sikkim State in North- Eastern India. Based on their subjective judgments, female farmer's view has been measured and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). Some descriptive statistics, such as percentage, mean, standard deviation (SD) as well as one sample t-test of inferential statistics is used to interpret the data. The findings show that only 05% of the sampled farming females have opted as their view for sericulture.

Keywords

Farming Females, Allied Agriculture Sector, Sericulture, Sikkim.

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Nidhi Dwivedy ¹

Affiliations
1 Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT), Management Department, Majitar, Sikkim, IN

Abstract

The present work has studied the gender participation in crop production and animal husbandry and related activities in the rural area of Sikkim in North- Eastern India. The effect of different socio- economic factors such as age, education and land holding on the participation of women in different activities of sample farmers at selected sites of Sikkim State has also been analyzed. Percentages have been used to come to a logical conclusion for that. 230 female farmers have been surveyed through schedule and questionnaire. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics with the help of SPSS has been used to interpret the data. The percentage data for participation in the activities-vaccination/visits to animal hospitals; breeding of animals and ploughing has shown male dominance at all level of education. In the State, the majorities of sample female farmers have been noticedin the age group 20-39 years (55%), primary level of education (39%) and belong to the category of small farmers (64%). (90%) of the respondents have been observed as the cultivators while (52%) male ownership of land hasbeenremarked. Data has signposteda strong impact of educationlevel on laborious farm and animal related activities. Comparatively more percentage of Illiterate farm women has been found participating in these types of activities. The percentage data for large farmwomen has discovered joint participation in all the activities except for the above mentioned male dominated activities. Data for age and participation has revealed that 25-45% of sample female farmers for all the category of ages independently participatein sowing, weeding, harvesting, milking and milk disposal. Results pertaining to these findings have been discussed in this paper.

Keywords

Gender Participation, Farmwomen, Crop Production, Animal Husbandry, Socio-Economic Factors, Sikkim.

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