In the last five years, there has been an over 70 per cent jump in employment of rural women above the age of 15 in India. In 2022-2023, about 41 per cent of them were employed, up from about 24 per cent in 2017-18, as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey data.
Under typical circumstances, this would be a reason to celebrate, especially considering India’s recent trend of women’s employment decreasing from an already dismal level. But not many are celebrating.
More rural women are doing paid work—about 40 million more women have been working in agriculture since 2017-18—but on average, their income has not kept pace with rising prices. The average monthly real wages of self-employed women, most of whom work on farms, was Rs 4,792 in 2022-23, a nearly 4 per cent fall from what they earned in 2017-18 (Rs 4,973), according to the calculations based on PLFS data*.
If rural women have re-entered farm work, it points towards a strain on managing family budgets. It would appear that their spouses’ incomes have not increased enough with inflation, making it challenging to maintain their living standards.
Does the distress in men’s employment and income show up in the data? On the surface, it does not. Both the employment rate and average monthly inflation-adjusted earnings for rural men show an upward movement. Monthly real wages for rural men—both self-employed and those engaged in casual labour—have increased about 17-18 per cent in the last five years*.
If men’s incomes have increased more than the general price rise, why are rural women continuing with farm work?
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Stressed household budgets
The inflation-adjusted wage data has a catch. It is difficult to entangle the sequence of events from ex-post data. Did wages rise ahead of prices, or did they lag and then catch up later? There is no easy way to know.
In real time, families have a tough time maintaining their living standards unless they find an additional income source, especially when the wages of the primary earner increase with a lag. This is especially true during periods of high inflation. The average retail inflation during the last three years (2020-2021 to 2022-2023) has been more than 6 per cent, above the upper cap of the central bank’s inflation target.
Another catch is that the above-mentioned inflation-adjusted earnings do not account for the hours worked. Did real earnings of men increase because of an increase in the hourly wage rate or are they now working more hours? Similarly, did the real earnings of self-employed rural women fall because of lower work hours or a decline in the real hourly wages?
As per the PLFS reports, over the last five years, working hours, on average, have decreased for both men and women in rural India across all types of work – self-employment, casual labour, and regular wage. For example, rural self-employed women—mainly farm labourers—worked 150 hours a month (four weeks) on average in April-June 2018. During the same quarter this year, they worked 120 hours a month on average. So, in a way, women are earning similar wages by spending less time at work, which is not a bad outcome per se.
Similarly, self-employed men in rural India worked for 176 hours per month from April to June this year, 25 hours less than the same quarter in 2018. In short, the real wage rate per hour increased for both men and women in rural India, but both are now working fewer hours. It is unclear, especially for men, if it is by choice.
There is another reason why household budgets may be under stress. The consumption basket for every family is somewhat different. If you use kerosene as a cooking fuel, the prices have increased about 90 per cent than what they were in October 2019. On average, medicines cost 30 per cent higher now, and parents must pay 25 per cent more for school uniforms. Depending on the family structure, goods and services are purchased in different proportions, so the impact of price increases is felt accordingly.
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Lack of suitable jobs
Should we expect this growing trend of rural women entering farm work to continue in the next few years?
It depends on how the economy fares. If economic growth picks up along with men’s wages—both the real wage rate and the number of hours worked—it may not be rational for rural women to work outside the home for little additional income. When rural women take up paid work, their housework rarely diminishes. This means they work—both paid and unpaid taken together—for longer hours daily.
If more non-farm jobs become available in rural India and if they pay more, would more rural women work?
That would depend on four main factors: How far is the job from their homes? How flexible is the work arrangement, or alternatively, are part-time jobs available? How much more would it pay compared to farm work? And finally, what type of work is it? Is it suitable for women, given the status level and occupational segregation? For example, local women may take a factory job, but many may not join construction work.
Almost all men in India who want to work eventually find a job. If all women who want to work cannot find a job, that is because jobs ‘suitable’ for women are scarce in quantity and quality. Given the social norms, women are constrained in terms of the type of paid work that they can take up. This is unlikely to change anytime soon.
If the trend of a rise in women employment in rural India is to continue, not just any non-farm jobs, but suitable non-farm jobs have to come up.
Vidya Mahambare is a Professor of Economics and Director (Research) at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai. Based on the calculations shared by Akshit Arora of Azim Premji University.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)