Non-farm sector and women in the rural landless households of Punjab

The present study was contemplated in the Central Zone of the Punjab state. Information on the important parameters including age, education, caste, occupation, employment status, nature and extent of employment and sources of income, etc pertaining to women from a sample of 120 rural landless households was obtained for the year 2006?07. A simple tabular analysis of the information thus collected revealed that among the rural landless households, majority belonged to the backward and the scheduled caste and a very few were from the general caste. The working women in Punjab were found to be employed mainly in the industries of community, social and personal (CSP) services, agriculture, manufacturing and trade. In the industry of CSP services, majority of the women were working as a regular employee. The women employed in the industries of manufacturing and agriculture preferred to work as an own account worker. And, in the industry of trade they were found to be working as an own account worker, a regular employee and as a casual worker. The income of the rural landless women employed with the industry of CSP services was relatively higher compared to that from the manufacturing industry and the agriculture. The annual earnings were found to be highest in the industry of trade but it accommodated a very few women. The results showed that agriculture was no more a popular occupation with the women in the rural landless households as it was gradually being replaced by employment in the relatively more paying industries like CSP Services, manufacturing and trade. The implications of the study are that the industries of CSP services and manufacturing hold much scope for rural landless women. The provision of imparting vocational training along with providing appropriate credit facilities to the rural landless women in the sample area will help set up small scale manufacturing industry in the area which will provide employment opportunities to the women and raise their income as well.