Women s Contribution to Agricultural Economy in Hill Regions of North-West India

Hill Regions of North-West India J P Bhati D V Singh While the conditions of women in the plains have been examined by scholars, the hilly, remote backward areas have not received the same attention. This paper estimates the household's total labour inputs and examines how the division of labour is organised in 120 marginal, small and other farm households located in 10 villages in Himachal Pradesh. The study finds that women's labour accounts for 61 per cent of the total farm work, their participation being greater in activities like animal husbandry than in crop production, and that there is some tendency towards sexual division of labour.