TIRUCHY: More awareness and newer avenues need to be created to empower rural women as they face a higher gender wage gap. On the occasion of International Day of Rural Women, TNIE spoke to women entrepreneurs on unpaid, unaccounted contributions of rural women.
Subashini Sridhar, CEO of Valanadu Sustainable Agriculture Producer Company Limited, said rural women have to deal with wage disparity while working as farm labourers. "For a six-hour farm work, a woman is paid Rs 275 compared to Rs 675 men get paid. Though they are involved in different stages of agriculture, the contribution of rural women should be valued more. Instead of employing labourers from other states, women should be given higher wages. This will draw them back to fields as many women now prefer MGNREGA works."
S Yogachithra, an entrepreneur from Manchanallur, said, "I am from a remote village in Tiruchy.We have to take care of our family and the business. But men can allot all their time to their business."
"There has been improvement in the process of getting loans but training programmes are for women are mostly conducted in cities. The government should run such programmes in panchayat and block levels as well to reach more women," she added.
N Murugeswari, director and the head of the department of women's studies at Bharathidasan University, said according to a study done by her department six years ago, only 15 per cent of rural land in the state is owned by women.
Pointing to the new avenues and wider network available to rural women especially after Covid-19 pandemic, she said more awareness needs to be created. "We have excellent government schemes but issue is the implementation," she added.