Work Related Drudgery and Occupational Hazards Experienced by Women in Agriculture

摘要

Women are the major work force in agricultural sector in developing countries. Uncertainties of agricultural production make farming a relatively stressful job and people employed in agriculture may be more vulnerable to musculoskeletal disorders (O' Neill, 2004). Productivity is studied and evaluated in terms of farm inputs and yield. Human productivity and problems are the most neglected factors in agricultural sector. In developing countries like India, agricultural activities are expected to cause musculoskeletal disorders (Nag et al., 1988). The present research aims at studying the work related drudgery and occupational hazards experienced by women in agricultural sector. Ninty women actively involved in agricultural activities in the Northern transitional agriculture zone were interviewed and the data on level of drudgery experiences, work related body disorders and the body sensitivity zones were collected in detail. Participation of women is analyzed on five point scale rating from no role (1) to monopolized by women (5). The level of satisfaction is also analyzed on five point rating scale (very satisfied-5 to very dissatisfied-1). The level of work related drudgery experiences was analyzed in terms of rating of work demand, feeling of exhaustion, posture assumed at work, manual loads operative, difficulty perception and work load perception on five point rating scale for each factor separately. Weeding was the maximum rated activities (4.27) where women dominated. Where as manuring and sowing depicted almost equal participation by men and women. Women rated weeding as satisfied with regard to time cost, pace of work, posture used and human power used which scored 15.60 points. Weeding was rated as very demanding (4.67). Harvesting was experienced as exhausting activity with highest rating of 3.80.The posture assumed was painful in harvesting and sowing activities (3.60). The data on manual loads operative revealed that heavy loads were carried while performing sowing (3.57) and threshing/processing (3.86) activities. Women perceived sowing (3.67) as most difficult activity. The total scores on drudgery experiences of women depicted that weeding was maximum drudgery prone activity with a score of 21.33 points followed by harvesting (20.87 points), sowing (20.73 points) and manuring (20.53 points). The data on level of work related hazards in agriculture among women revealed that most of the times women reported to have laceration/scratches on various body parts like neck, elbow, lower arm, wrist, lower legs rarely which did not have any impact on work. The total score on body disorders reveled that lower back was the first ranked sensitive zone (11.44) followed by shoulders and neck. Hence there is need for focusing on human factor, their productivity, occupational problems and drudgery to ultimately increase the agricultural production and betterment of the labour force.