includes subject index

Traditionally women,s role in agriculture is staggering with nearly half of the population involved in agriculture and its related activities. Most of the agricultural activities are women specific but tragically worldwide women mostly end up as hired agricultural laborers with substantial gender disparity in wages, earning far less than men in the same job. To add to her economic woes, inadequate education, less than satisfactory dissemination of technology, globalization, economic liberalization, commercialization, urbanization, political instability, natural disasters, mechanization of agriculture, decreased agriculture, migration of men to urban areas, and occupational health hazards such as prolonged hours of physical labor resulting in musculo-skeletal injuries, pesticide poisoning also make the life of rural women miserable. True, there are politics and programmes of central and state government to alleviate their problems but they are proportionately insufficient and their execution far from satisfactory. Much needs to be done in disseminating gender segregated data and gender bias in all aspects of agriculture, access to resources including land and natural resources, drudgery reduction, assuring nutritional security, diversification of activities of self health groups and Stree shakti groups with emphasis on productivity including post harvest technology, creation from the media, collectives of women and later linking of SHGs, adult literacy, health awareness, gender sensitization of extension functionaries and financials institutions, awareness about pesticide hazard etc.