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Gendering Technological Change: Evidence from Agricultural Mechanization

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  • Afridi, Farzana

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Bishnu, Monisankar

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

  • Mahajan, Kanika

    (Ashoka University)

Abstract

Technological change in production processes with gendered division of labor across tasks, such as agriculture, can have a differential impact on women's and men's labor. Using exogenous variation in the extent of loamy soil, which is more amenable to deep tillage than clayey soil and therefore more likely to see adoption of tractor driven equipment for primary tilling, we show that mechanization has led to significantly greater decline in women's than men's labor on Indian farms. Reduced demand for labor in weeding, a task that requires precision and is thus more often undertaken by women, explains our findings. The estimates suggest that increased mechanized tilling led to a more than 22% fall in women's agricultural labor in India during 1999-2011. Our results highlight the gendered impact of technological change in contexts where there is sex-specific specialization of labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Afridi, Farzana & Bishnu, Monisankar & Mahajan, Kanika, 2020. "Gendering Technological Change: Evidence from Agricultural Mechanization," IZA Discussion Papers 13712, IZA Network @ LISER.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13712
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ashwini Deshpande & Jitendra Singh, 2021. "Dropping Out, Being Pushed out or Can't Get In? Decoding Declining Labour Force Participation of Indian Women," Working Papers 65, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    3. Aparajita Dasgupta & Anahita Karandikar & Devvrat Raghav, 2024. "Road Access, Fertility, and Child Health in Rural India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 50(1), pages 117-147, March.
    4. Banerjee, Souvik & Mukhopadhyay, Sankar & Jaiswal, Preeti, 2025. "Motherhood and Labour Market Outcomes: Penalty or Premium?," IZA Discussion Papers 18246, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Nicholas Li, 2022. "Women's Work in India: Evidence from changes in time use between 1998 and 2019," Working Papers 084, Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Economics.
    6. Ashwini Deshpande & Shantanu Khanna & Daksh Walia, 2024. "An Indian Enigma? Labour market impacts of the world’s largest livelihoods program," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-20, September.
    7. Winarno, Kodrad & Sustiyo, Joko & Aziz, Ammar Abdul & Permani, Risti, 2025. "Unlocking agricultural mechanisation potential in Indonesia: Barriers, drivers, and pathways for sustainable agri-food systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    8. Deshpande, Ashwini & Kabeer, Naila, 2024. "Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women’s work between income generation, expenditure-saving and unpaid domestic responsibilities in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    9. de Brauw, Alan & Kramer, Berber & Murphy, Mike, 2021. "Migration, labor and women’s empowerment: Evidence from an agricultural value chain in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    10. Rajshri Jayaraman & Bisma Khan, 2023. "Does co-residence with parents-in-law reduce women's employment in India?," Working Papers tecipa-747, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    11. Rajshri Jayaraman & Bisma Khan, 2023. "Does Co-Residence with Parents-In-Law Reduce Women’s Employment in India?," Working Papers 2023-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    12. Li, Nicholas, 2023. "Women’s work in India: Evidence from changes in time use between 1998 and 2019," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    13. Gupta, Tanu & Negi, Digvijay S., 2021. "Daughter vs. Daughter-in-Law: Kinship Roles and Women's Time Use in India," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313373, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Pallavi Rajkhowa & Zaneta Kubik, 2021. "Revisiting the relationship between farm mechanization and labour requirement in India," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 487-513, December.

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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