Sheuli Ray
Department of Geography
North Eastern Hill University
Shillong, Meghalaya
Manoj Debnath
Department of Geography
North Eastern Hill University
Shillong, Meghalaya
Abstract
Female work participation in economic activity is a vital issue since last five decades. The study is based on Census information to explore the spatial pattern and disparity in female work participation in rural areas in West Bengal using district level data. One of the ways of understanding the inter-regional disparity of rural female work participation in West Bengal is agricultural region. Because most of the rural women participated in agricultural activities, but their work is still neglected. They have to face significant constrained by limited number of resources and gender inequalities. There is a marked difference in women’s agricultural work according to agro-ecologic zones in West Bengal. It is in the rural areas where the female work participation is directly linked to agriculture and allied activities and the study confines itself to an understanding of work participation of women only in the rural areas. The study also highlights the several socioeconomic, regional, agricultural and demographic variables which have different impact on both sexes in different agro-ecological regions.
Key Words: Inter-Regional Female Work participation, Gender Gap, Disparity Index.
