Gender participation in rural farm household decision making: A case of Vaishali district, Bihar

Women play a pivotal role in farm and non-farm activities in terms of labour contribution in the household, farm and animal production, and fuel wood and fodder collection. However, their role in rural families and farming is neither clear nor visible as they are seen as co-farmers, family labour or wage labour. The present study explores the gender based participation in household and farming decision as well as the differences in their access to resources. The study uses a cross-section data of 641 household's survey conducted in 12 villages of Vaishali district of Bihar in 2013. The results show that there are huge gender differences in terms of access to resources such as education, land entitlement, etc. Male farmer/member of the farming household has bigger say in household as well as farming decision and financial transactions. However, women's relative share in decision making is higher in low value added but arduous activities.