Are wheat-based farming systems in South Asia feminizing?

Abstract

This article pulls together the state of knowledge on the degree to which wheat-based systems in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, are feminizing. It is not yet possible to make definitive statements. However, it is clear that wheat-based systems are undergoing far-reaching changes in relation to “who does what” and “who decides.” There are some commonalities across all four countries. Intersectionalities shape women’s identities and abilities to exert their agency. Purdah is a cultural norm in many locations. Nevertheless, each country displays different meta-trends. In Nepal managerial feminization is increasing unlike in Pakistan. Women in Bangladesh spend the least time in field work whereas in other countries they are often strongly engaged. There are strong local variations within countries as well which we explore. Establishing the extent of feminization is challenging because studies ask different questions, operate at different levels, and are rarely longitudinal. Researchers often construct men as primary farmers, leading to a failure to find out what men and women really do and decide. This diminishes the value of many studies. Cultural perceptions of honor can make men respondents reluctant to report on women’s agency and women can be reluctant to claim agency openly. We provide suggestions for better research, and urge support to women as workers and decision-makers.

Gender, social, household, and ecological factors influencing wheat trait preferences among the women and men farmers in India

“…The growing popularity of high-yielding varieties and mechanization have increased the demand and wages for male labor but decreased the same for female labor due to limited scope for performing women's traditional tasks of transplanting and weeding in mechanized wheat production system (D' Agostino, 2017). This further marginalized women in the wheat sector in terms of their wages and agency in decision making, despite their significant presence in the provision of labor (Farnworth et al, 2023).…”

“…At the top are the General Caste (GC), so called upper caste, followed by mid-level Other Backward Castes (OBC) and marginalized groups like the Scheduled Castes (SC, Dalits) or the lower caste and Indigenous people or the tribal communities (Adivasi, Scheduled Tribes or ST) with different levels of men and women's involvement in access to resources and household decision making (Bidner and Eswaran, 2015). Moreover, the intersectional identities of gender, caste, and class are attuned to create opportunity structures that may make certain groups privileged, while others deprived of accessing resources, services, and livelihood options (Patnaik and Jha, 2020;Farnworth et al, 2023). For example, women in upper caste and women in lower caste households, or in poor or rich households are not the same, and they have different access to information and decision-making over varietal selection.…”