Agency and time poverty: Linking decision-making powers and leisure time of male and female farmers of Central India

Abstract

The present study examines the gender difference in the workload and its association with the agency for intra-household decision-making. Analyzing the cross-sectional data collected from wheat farmers of Central India in 2019, we observe significant differences between male and female respondents with respect to the total number of work hours and agency on farming activities and consumption expenditure. While women provided fewer labor hours than men for different farming operations, their available leisure hours were compromised due to a greater involvement in household chores (reproductive labor). Irrespective of their higher workload, women’s involvement in intra-household decision-making was limited. More importantly, there was a tradeoff between the leisure time available for women and their involvement in decision-making. Women with agency had less leisure time than others. Land ownership was associated with a higher workload for female respondents. However, neither agency nor the possession of land titles had a significant effect in determining male farmers’ work or leisure hours. The leisure hours were particularly limited for farmers belonging to marginalized castes. These findings have implications for designing and implementing interventions with labor-related outcomes, such as programs for rural employment generation and dissemination of labor-saving technologies in agriculture.