Participation of rural women in decision making

Women, as cultivators, agricultural labourers, artisans and housewives, constitute a sizeable section of the rural work force. Rural women are busy throughout the day looking after milch cattle or other domesticated livestock, which includes tasks like milking and fodder collection, assisting male members of families in agricultural activities, collection of firewood and procuring water. These duties are in addition to the responsibilities of raising children, take care of elderly in the family, cleaning and cooking. The present study was conducted in Kallar village of district Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir). A sample of 40 women was drawn from the village at random, of which 20 women were working women and the remaining were housewives. The required information was collected through personal interview method, using well-designed and pre-tested schedules. The result indicated that in major aspects of decision making i.e. financial, educational, agricultural, animal husbandry and social, women’s participation is in minimal extent i.e. 15 %, 20 %, 10 %, 10 % and 50 %, respectively. Moreover, in routine decisions also gender plays an important role. Male members of the family dominantly participated in control of income (72.5 %), agriculture input use (85 %), casteism (92.5 %), consultation of community matters in family (80 %) and decision to vote (52.5 %), respectively.