CLICKS: The hands that rocks the cradles, rule the world

Happy International Women's day, ladies!

While surfing the internet, I came across this lovely post by Mellisa McEwan on female farmers across the world.

It's striking to realize the extent to which women contribute in providing for their families in a developing nation while still remaining an inconspicuous minority. A study in the Indian himalayas estimated that a pair of bullocks work 1064 h, a man 1212 h and a woman 3864 h in one year in a 1 ha farm! That's more than three times a man's work!

Most of the hard work put by these women involves transporting heavy loads on their heads for long distances, sifting grains and maintaining the fields while bending low in the scorching sun for hours at length. Yet, these women end up being low status laborers with a much low payroll than their male-counterparts due to gender biases.
In addition , these women also effectively take care of their young ones while they do their work from sun-up to sun-down.
Often,you will find these incredible women bending over the fields with their sickles, their babies tied tightly to their backs with a "chadar".When the baby cries ,she will walk to the nearest shade of a tree and nurse her baby to sleep and then resume her work with unwavering determination. At sunset, she will go back home and cook for the entire family and feed everyone first before she sits down to eat herself.

It's a great thing the world is quickly realizing that real development begins first with the upliftment of women. The Grameen Bank is one such perfect model of the power of rural women. A woman is more likely to grab any chance given to her to raise herself out of poverty and when she does that, she also brings her children and future generations along with her.

Here are some pictures I took while I was in India. Power to you,ladies!