Necessity as a driver in bending agricultural gender norms in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia

ABSTRACT

The majority of the farmers in the rural Global South continue to depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Despite the fact that women account for almost half of the world’s farmers, they face gender-specific challenges such as deeply rooted cultural and social norms that limit their access to land, assets, financial markets, agricultural training, and information. Using semi-structured interviews with farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, this study investigates how necessity is becoming one of the major drivers in the bending of agricultural gender norms. The study investigates the connections between feminist political ecology and agricultural technology production frameworks in order to comprehend the implications of technology adoption and influences on gender norms in communities. Women’s participation in agriculture was found to be heavily influenced by social and cultural barriers, and they were frequently subjected to social criticism for breaking the systemic gender norms. This paper emphasizes on the growing pattern of bending gender norms with recommendations for increasing women’s participation and scope in future agriculture development initiatives through policies and interventions that emphasize gender equity.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Gender norms
• South Asia
• women farmers
• agriculture
• technology

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, we would like to thank the farmers who agreed to take part in this research and share their knowledge and experiences with us. The transcribers are also appreciated for their assistance throughout the transcribing process. Rama Sharma is thanked for her contribution in the data collection and analysis. The members from the following partner organisations are thanked for their contribution during data collection- Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Satmile Satish Club O Pathagar, Department of Agriculture, Sabuj Mitra Krishak Sangha and Sabuj Bahini, Gourangapur Farmers Club in West Bengal; Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS) in Bangladesh; Bihar Agricultural University (BAU) in Bihar; Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) in Nepal.

Author Contributions

The study's conceptualization and design were overseen by Brendan Brown, and under his supervision Pragya Timsina, Anjana Chaudhary, Akriti Sharma, Emma Karki, and Bhavya Suri were in charge of material preparation and data collection. Pragya Timsina led the study analysis, with Anjana Chaudhary and Brendan Brown assisting in the refinement and finalisation of the manuscript, which incorporated contributions from all authors during the review process.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Informed consent

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Gideon Kruseman, Head of CIMMYT Internal Review Ethics Committee (Ethics approval number: IREC-2019.020). The participants provided their informed consent to participate in this study.

Data availability statement

Anonymized Data can be made available on reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR): (CSE/2011/077 and WAC/2020/148).