The Landless women: Only 12.9% Indian women hold agricultural land

Look hard. Do you see any woman among the protesting farmers? The reason is simple — Women hardly own agricultural land.

Lakshadweep and Meghalaya are the best among all the 35 states and Union Territories at providing land rights to women; Punjab and West Bengal are the worst, according to an index created by the Bhubaneswar-based Centre for Land Governance, an arm of consultancy firm NR Management Consultants.

The index was prepared using the data on women’s operational holdings from the agriculture census of 2011, the share of adult women owning farm land from the Indian Human Development Survey of 2011-12, the share of women-headed households owning land from the Socio-economic Caste Census of 2011, and the share of women owning house and/or land (alone or jointly) from the National Family Health Survey of 2015-16.

The index ranks states in terms of women holding land rights in percentage points. On average, 12.9% of Indian women hold land.

In the southern states, 15.4% of women hold land, and in the northeast, 14.1%. Despite such low figures, these states outperform the northern states (9.8%), and the eastern states (9.2%).

Secure and impartial land rights for women are crucial for a country to achieve sustainable developments goals, such as ending poverty and achieving gender equality.

The government had professed an intention to give joint titles to men and women while distributing land and home sites since the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85).

But, the data shows a poor record.  Women constitute a third (32%) of India’s agricultural labour force and contribute 55-66% to farm production, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Yet, they hold only 12.8% of operational holdings in India, according to the Center for Land Governance index.