Using district-level panel data based on national sample survey data for India from 1993 to 2007, this study was to examine how rainfall shocks, which affect demand for labour in Indian agriculture, alter wage gaps between men and women in the agriculture sector. Overall, it was found that such shocks do not affect the wage gaps, but in the rainfed rice-growing regions of India, low rainfall years widen gender wage gaps, with women farmers suffering a greater loss in their wages as compared to their male counterparts. The cultivation of rice is highly sensitive to rainfall variability under rainfed conditions. Women workers are heavily concentrated in the cultivation of crops, such as rice, that are severely affected by rainfall variability, making them more vulnerable to labour market losses during bad rainfall years. In other words, the effect of rainfall shocks on gender wage gaps in agriculture depends upon the gender roles underlying the technology of production in agriculture, which varies across cropping systems.

Focus group discussions conducted in 26 villages in two states in India, Maharashtra and Orissa, validated the empirical findings. In terms of labour supply response to weather variability, men appeared to have a clear advantage in searching for non-agriculture work outside their villages as compared to women, who are generally the main caregivers of children and other family members, as well the caretakers of the household. The focus group discussions validated that women’s increased time spent in home production activities, such as collecting water, fodder and firewood, and doing unpaid work, such as taking care of sick children, in years of low rainfall, kept them away from the labour market.

The focus group discussions also revealed that lower access to clean water and nutritious food were of greater concern to women than men in low rainfall years since they were primarily responsible for carrying out the day-to-day activities of running a household. Women also suffered from greater health effects than men. In families suffering from economic difficulties, women also searched for non-agriculture or agricultural work outside their villages, which coupled with greater housework, led to fatigue. Drought and lack of alternative job opportunities also forced women into sex work.

The paper concludes with some policy suggestions.