Probably amongst the most urgent issues today is the visibilisation of the economic contribution of women in the agrarian sector in India. In recognition of this fact, the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics identified this as one of the key sectors of research in its prestigious Platinum Jubilee Conference. The question of gender and work has to be located in the context of the current nature of Indian economic structures. In an economy where the majority of the people enter the production process for purposes of subsistence and survival, there can be no woman who can be non-productive or non-involved in economic activities; whether the work is recognised as such in the various data systems is another matter altogether. Women contribute not only to production but also to re-production of goods and services, especially in an economy that is characterised by several stylised facts including that of the primacy of the non-market and informal markets, in relation to not only individual land rights but also common property resources.
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