Feminine farm operations and drudgery associated in pre dominant farming systems of Western plain zone of Uttar Pradesh

Women play substantial roles in farming systems and are vigorously involved in farm and livestock management, but their contribution in farming systems is generally overlooked and undervalued which has reflected them as invisible workers. The farm women of are engaged in labour intensive, time consuming, arduous, monotonous, repetitive, manual operations resulting in fatigue and drudgery. Considering the issue as imperative, a survey was conducted in three districts of Western plain zone of Uttar Pradesh i.e Meerut and Saharanpur and Bulandshahar in the year 2015-2016. The total sample comprises a random sample of 180 households i.e. (3 District x 3 blocks/district x 2 villages/ block x 10 households) using a stratified sampling frame. A total of 180 households were selected for the study. Crop + Horticulture (vegetables) + Dairy (FS­3­) and Horticulture + Crop + Dairy (FS4) can be tagged as gender sensitive farming systems due to the higher amount of drudgery prone feminine farm operations. Carrying of dung through basket as headload depicted by their highest drudgery score (62.58) was a feminine farm operation performed by (88%) in FS3 followed by (83%) in FS4.,