The movement of empowering the woman towards
equal status ti her counterparts started long back.It is continued and perhaps would go on within near far future also. In some selective fields ,however this has been gaining momentum.Whatever might be the magnitude of the outcome of the awareness and movement degree of gainful employment of the women anywhere claims a strong correlation with that of
women empowerment.
More than 72% of the rural population in Assam depends on agriculture and allied activities.The ratio of male to the female is about 1:07 indicating marginal excess of male population. Settled cultivation has been the general characteristic of the rural people of the state.A no of agricultural and allied activities where the available women are engaged partially, selectively or solely has been continuing from ancient times.Among them the winter rice has been the primary crop.Moreover jute,mustard,pulses and various vegetables are raised to a limited extent.Weaving has been the most important subsidiary activity in every farm family.Further raising cattle for milk and poultry with ducks for eggs and meat have supplementary and complementary production process in almost all the farm households.
To increase the farm family income and ultimately the income of the nation as a whole, optimal utilization of human resource particularly the farm family labour on sustaining basis over the months of the year in agricultural and allied pursuits is very much important.However the female population of the society has been lagging behind due to lack of proper education particularly in skillful and and applied avenue and the traditional setup of the rural society.It is found that there exists considerable variation in female
participation rate according to social status ,casts tribes and communities. Social status and sentiment work as a limiting factor in supplying labour in agriculture sector.
The present employment pattern of women in cultivation of crops brings out that the total annual human resource used per farm on an average is around 500 mandays under where women participation is estimated to be around 30 per cent in irrigated farms. In rainfed farms, the total human labour used is 350 mandays where women participation is about 27 per cent.In all activities including household cooking and family management , the female participation is 23 per cent of the total human resource utilization.
All possible efforts should be taken to engage the female section of the society because man and woman are two equal components of the society and considered complementary to each other.Whatever the work, they should be given dignity.