Women’s role in the agriculture field is still underappreciated, be it a woman farmer working in the field or an agri input professional who works in a corporate office. Even in 2023, they are facing challenges because of gender stereotypes.
About 75% of the full-time workers in Indian farms are women, so it should be natural that they are given the space, resources, respect, and salary and yet it’s not the case. Here’s a list of problems women in corporate agriculture in India face:
No Proper Restrooms
This is a common problem women in most corporate offices face and the scenario is the same for women working in corporate agriculture offices. The lack of only female washrooms, along with there being no pads and tampons dispenser in the washrooms, remains a huge problem even in 2023. It is about time corporates realized their women employees need basic necessities to thrive at the workplace such as a clean and hygienic bathroom, a tampon and pad dispenser, etc.
Wage Gap
Another scenario is common for the majority of women employees, the salary package is also less for women in agriculture corporations than their male counterparts. This comes as a result of the stereotype that women are less productive as compared to male employees. Women employees still make 81.8 percent of what men earn from the same work performed by men, according to weforum.org.
Inequality in Career Growth and Workplace Productivity
Hive’s research into this issue shows that women work 10 percent harder than men in today’s offices. In fact, the study goes on to reveal that women are assigned to spend more time on non-promotable tasks than men, which means that the task is beneficial for the growth of the organization but not for the individual’s career growth.
Workplace chat is a common part of the day in any office and the female gender usually takes the hit for being chatty at the workplace and the habit getting in the way of their productivity. Big Think conducted a study where it proved that workplace chat reduces productivity by about 20 percent and women were found to chat 20% more than men. But with their productivity level being 10% more than men, it turns out chatting doesn’t get in the way of women’s productivity, at all.
Safety Issues Regarding Field Work
With the world being a not-so-safe place for women, the safety of a woman while working on the field is quite a huge concern. It falls under the responsibility of the corporate to provide as much safety to the women employees assigned field jobs as possible.
Conclusion:
Some see equality as being given the same attention and resources to all individuals in society. However, that doesn’t ensure equal growth because the starting point of every individual is different which leads to inequality in growth nonetheless. So, we come back to the point where we started. Women still lag behind, underappreciated. It is high time agriculture corporates take matters in hand and start making their workplace a welcoming place for women, where they are respected, heard, and appreciated.
