Employment Challenges of Scheduled Caste Women in Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Sectors

Journal of Research and Development A Multidisciplinary International Level Referred and Double Blind Peer Reviewed, Open Access ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-9(V)| September 2025 114 Employment Challenges of Scheduled Caste Women in Agricultural and NonAgricultural Sectors Yasmeen Harun Mulla1, Dr. R. G. Korabu2 1Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. 2Associate Professor and Research GuideDepartment of Economics, D. D. Shinde Sarkar College, Kolhapur. Email: yasmeenmulla201[email protected] Manuscript ID: JRD -2025-170928 ISSN: 2230-9578 Volume 17 Issue 9 (V) Pp. 114-117 Sept. 2025 Submitted:15 Aug. 2025 Revised: 25 Aug. 2025 Accepted: 10 Sept. 2025 Published: 30 Sept. 2025 Abstract After 75 years of India's independence, the development of Scheduled Caste women has not been achieved. Even today, these women have to face many problems. Scheduled Caste women face many problems in various fields of employment. This study mainly studies the obstacles faced by Scheduled Caste women in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Secondary sources such as PLFS (2023-24), NFHS-5 (2019-21) have been used for this study. Employment plays an important role in the development of Scheduled Caste women. The development of these women can be achieved through an increase in employment. This can be achieved by studying the major obstacles faced by this employment. The conclusion shows that landlessness, mechanization, low wages, insecure employment, discrimination, occupational segregation are the major challenges. These challenges create obstacles to the socioeconomic development of Scheduled Caste women. For this, a strategic solution plan is required in areas such as education, skill-based training, equal pay, land rights, etc. Measures such as these will increase the employment participation of Scheduled Caste women and help improve their socio-economic status. Keywords: Schedule Caste women, Agriculture, Non Agriculture, Challenges, Employment. Introduction The Scheduled Castes population is seen in large numbers in India. The Scheduled Castes are seen at the lowest level in the caste system, and these castes face disadvantages everywhere. When considering the women of the community, they are considered less than the men of this community. These women have to endure discrimination in society, as well as in their own community, due to caste and gender. Although the number of this group is large in India, their participation in work is not seen as much as it should be, the first reason for this is the attitude of the society towards this group. Along with the development of India, this community is also seen developing, but the pace of this development is very slow. The participation of this community in employment is seen, but many problems are seen in the employment of women, which affects their development. Employment is an important tool to give this community a place in society. It is necessary to increase the participation of women from the Scheduled Castes in employment. Employment will change the living standards, confidence will help in gaining a place of respect in society. Women from Scheduled Castes are seen participating in agricultural and non-agricultural employment. Their participation in agriculture is high in rural areas, but in these areas they have to work as low-wage, seasonal employment and as laborers in agriculture, while in urban areas they are seen working as laborers in domestic industries, construction sector and informally. Very few of them get good jobs. The present paper is useful for understanding in detail the problems they face while working in agricultural and nonagricultural sectors. Understanding the problems and taking appropriate measures to address them can help in their upliftment. Quick Response Code: Website: https://jrdrvb.org/ DOI: Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work noncommercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations ae licensed under the idential terms. Address for correspondence: Yasmeen Harun Mulla, Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur How to cite this article: Y. H. Mulla, R. G. Korabu. (2025).Employment Challenges of Scheduled Caste Women in Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Sectors. Journal of Research & Development, 17(9), 114117 Original Article Journal of Research and Development A Multidisciplinary International Level Referred and Double Blind Peer Reviewed, Open Access ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-9(V)| September 2025 115 Objective To study the major challenges faced by Scheduled Caste women in employment in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Review of Literature 1) Dr. K. Sreenivasa Murthy, Dr. M. Subramanyam, P. Neelayathatchi (2022) have studied the problems faced by women entrepreneurs of Scheduled Castes in some selected districts of four states of India namely Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala. Women entrepreneurs face difficulties in terms of financial capital, raw materials, marketing, and shortage of labor, infrastructure and machinery. The main reason for these problems is the lack of education and training among women of this community. To reduce these problems, the government needs to provide educational opportunities and proper training to Scheduled Caste women. 2) Vijaykumar Murthy, Dr. Jaikishan Thakur (2015) have studied the problems and challenges faced by Scheduled Caste women in Gulbarga district of Karnataka. Even today in the 21st century, Scheduled Caste women are deprived in the society due to caste, gender, poverty. The present study concluded that unemployed housewives had to face more problems compared to self-employed or employed women. Of course, employment has given Scheduled Caste women status, equality and respect in the society along with economic support. 3) According to Shri. Sanjay Sande (2018), in today's modern times, the problems faced by women of Scheduled Castes at the social and economic level have been reviewed. Women of Scheduled Castes are directly or indirectly discriminated against by the upper caste classes in terms of social, economic and educational rights. Women of this caste have to face low-quality work, low wages, humiliation, harassment. Efforts are made to keep women of Scheduled Castes away from social justice. Special efforts are being made to achieve the educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes. But as a weaker section, they still have to face many problems in the society. 4) Manunayaka G., K. Ponnusamy (2023) have studied the difficulties and challenges faced in the efforts to empower the Scheduled Caste farming community through the agricultural sector. Since ancient times, the Scheduled Caste community has faced exclusion and discrimination. A large group of this community seems to be in the agricultural sector. But obstacles such as lack of own land, lack of information about production, lack of productive assets seem to be hindering their empowerment. Such farming families can be empowered with the help of capacity, skill development and policies. Methodology The present study is completely based on secondary sources. Secondary data has been used in the form of national level reports like Census of India, Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS-2023-24), NSSO Report (2011-12), and National Family Health Survey (NFSH-5). Along with this, the study has been based on government reports, research articles. Employment Challenges of Scheduled Caste Women Scheduled Castes are considered to be a group of society that is still not fully developed, this group is in dire need of development. But due to the caste system, this society has to face many problems. Even after almost 75 years of independence, Scheduled Castes, mainly women, have to struggle to get respect and employment in the society. Despite the provisions of the Constitution, welfare policies and schemes for equal justice of Scheduled Castes, their participation in employment is seen as low. Mainly in the case of Scheduled Castes, the participation rate in employment is seen as very low. Table - Labour Force Participation Rate (%) for Scheduled Caste estimated from PLFS (2021-22), PLFS (2022-23), and PLFS (2023-24) Year SC Men (%) SC Women (%) 2021-22 56.9 25.0 2022-23 57.3 28.9 2023-24 57.7 32.2 Source: Annual Report, PLFS (2023-24) The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) shows the labour force participation rate of Scheduled Castes for the last 3 years. The labour force participation rate of women is very low compared to other social groups as well as Scheduled Caste men. The data for the last 3 years shows that the labour force participation rate of women and men among Scheduled Castes is increasing, but this increase is happening at a slow pace. These data show that the participation rate of women among Scheduled Castes is much lower than that of men. It is clear from the above table that the labor force participation rate of women is low. The participation is even lower in urban areas compared to rural areas. The main purpose of collecting this data is to show the participation rate of women in the labor force participation rate. The study revealed that due to social, economic and cultural constraints, the participation of women from Scheduled Castes in employment is low. These problems have been reviewed and categorized into agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Journal of Research and Development A Multidisciplinary International Level Referred and Double Blind Peer Reviewed, Open Access ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-9(V)| September 2025 116 Employment Challenges in Agriculture Sector 1) Lack of Land Ownership According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), only 30.2% of women in Scheduled Castes own land. This is very less compared to women of other social groups. Even among the land that these women own, most of the land seems to be jointly owned. In which the land is registered in the name of husband and wife or other family members. In this way, Scheduled Caste women get formal rights to land ownership, but in reality, men have the right to control and make decisions about it. Due to lack of land ownership, Scheduled Caste women have to work in the agricultural sector for low wages. This affects their social and economic development. 2) Low wages The biggest challenge faced by women in agriculture is low wages. Despite their high participation as workers in the unorganized sector, they have to work for low wages and in insecure places, where their income is much lower than average. Although women in rural India are more involved in agriculture than men, they are seen working for much lower wages than men, and the wage gap is more visible among women from Scheduled Castes due to caste and gender-based social discrimination. Lack of land ownership, lack of skills, seasonal nature of agriculture and dependence on employment in the unorganized sector, which leads to low wage levels. As a result, Scheduled Caste women earn less. This hinders their economic independence and achieving a respectable position in society. 3) Mechanization Mechanization plays an important role in the agricultural sector. For example, it is used to increase the process, productivity and efficiency of crop production in the agricultural sector, but it creates a challenging situation for the employment of women working in the agricultural sector, especially those belonging to the Scheduled Castes, in rural areas. Women working in the agricultural sector in rural areas were involved in agricultural related work such as sowing, planting, harvesting, threshing and so on. Due to modern technology, work in the agricultural sector is done by machines. As a result, women's participation in employment is seen to have decreased. Mainly mechanized work is considered male-centric. Due to which women mainly stay away from women from the marginalized classes. Along with this, women farmers also face discrimination in providing loans for purchasing new technology. ((FAO), 2011) Mechanization has increased productivity in the agricultural sector, but women belonging to the Scheduled Castes see a lack of employment opportunities in the agricultural sector due to gender discrimination. 4) Seasonal Employment There is no employment in the agricultural sector throughout the year. Employment in the agricultural sector is seasonal. Employment in the agricultural sector is limited to work like sowing, harvesting, weeding, etc., depending on the season. This makes it difficult to get work throughout the year. Due to this, women get employment for a short period of time and also get income during the same period. This problem is bigger in the case of Scheduled Caste women, because these women are mainly involved in the agricultural sector, that is, in the unorganized sector. Where they get seasonal employment. In general, they get less income. Seasonal employment leads to a decrease in income, which in turn leads to a decrease in their social status. Overall, many factors like low wages, discrimination, employment in the unorganized sector affect their economic and social status. Employment Challenges in Non-Agriculture Sector 1) Lack of education and skills Lack of education and lack of skills create a major obstacle for Scheduled Caste women to get employment in non-agricultural sectors. Minimum literacy, skills, training and technical knowledge are required to get employment in non-agricultural industries and businesses. However, due to poverty and discrimination, the participation of the disadvantaged sections of the society is less due to education. As a result, they cannot get skilled and suitable employment. Due to this, they have to depend on low-paid employment like domestic work, construction, cleaning and other insecure jobs. Lack of education and skills not only affects their professionalism but also their social status. Due to all these factors, Scheduled Caste women have to be deprived of the newly created opportunities in the economy. 2) Low wages and insecure employment Low wages and insecure employment are common in the non-agricultural sector. Due to lack of education, Scheduled Caste women are involved in informal jobs such as domestic work, construction, brick kilns, and sanitation workers in the non-agricultural sector. These jobs are characterized by low wages, lack of contracts, and lack of security benefits such as provident fund, maternity leave and health insurance. Scheduled Caste women experience these problems more acutely than other social groups. There is no job security in unorganized employment, and they are more likely to lose their jobs. Due to problems in the labor market, these women have to face poverty, which affects their economic independence and social status. 3) Occupational segregation Occupational segregation refers to the organization of occupations on the basis of caste and gender. In the non-agricultural sector, education and skills are factors that contribute to occupational segregation, but social and Journal of Research and Development A Multidisciplinary International Level Referred and Double Blind Peer Reviewed, Open Access ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-9(V)| September 2025 117 cultural factors also play a role. Occupational segregation is seen as a barrier to employment for these women, who are considered to be socially marginalized groups in the Scheduled Castes. While women from the so-called advanced groups of society are divided into well-paid jobs and receive wage benefits, women from the Scheduled Castes are engaged in low-paid and insecure occupations. This unequal distribution, coupled with gender-based wage inequality, seems to have put them at a disadvantage in the workplace. (Rammohan A.) Thus, Scheduled Caste women face both caste-based and gender-based disadvantages in occupational segregation. Often, they have the skills to do the right job, but in urban areas, they are limited by personal connections, which seems to be partly due to social pressure. 4) Discrimination at Work The biggest problem in non-agricultural sectors is discrimination at work. Discrimination against women at work is a persistent phenomenon in India. It includes gender discrimination, low wages, occupational segregation, lack of leadership opportunities, harassment at work, and discrimination in employment and promotion. All these have an impact on women's participation in the professional sector, economic independence, and their well-being. (Ms. Bhonsle S, 2025) This discrimination is seen in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. They are given less prestigious jobs compared to upper caste women or men. Such discrimination at work limits the spiritual advancement of Scheduled Caste women. It also leads to a decrease in their self-confidence. Due to such inequalities, the development of Scheduled Caste women is delayed. Conclusion This research has studied the main problems faced by Scheduled Caste women working in agriculture and non-agricultural sectors. In employment, these women face difficulties in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, which are felt more acutely than women from other communities and create obstacles to their development. Women working in agriculture face problems such as lack of land ownership, low wages, mechanization, seasonal employment, while non-agricultural education and skills, insecure employment, occupational segregation and discrimination at the workplace. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), only 30.2% of Scheduled Caste women own their own land. If the development of the disadvantaged sections of the society is to be achieved, the government needs to take the initiative to reduce these problems. It is difficult to achieve the development of Scheduled Caste women without efforts for education and skills at the social level. Along with this, comprehensive policies are needed to ensure equal rights to land and access to formal employment. References: 1. Dr. K. Sreenivasa Murthy, Dr. M. Subramanyam, P. Nellayathatchi (2022), “Challenges Faced b the Scheduled Caste Women Entrepreneurs in Selected District of India”. 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