Discuss the role of women in the agrarian society in Mughal India.

Role of Women in Agrarian Society : Men and women both performed certain specific roles in production process. Women had to work shoulder to shoulder with men in the fields. Men used to till the land and plough the land and women sowed, weeded, threshed and winnowed the harvest. With the development of small rural units and individual agriculture of peasants, labour and resources of entire household became the basis of production. Naturally gendered segregation was not possible between the home (for women) and the world (for men). Even then there was continuation of biases related to women’s biological functions. For example, menstruating women were not allowed to touch the plough or the wheel of potter in western India.

Artisanal works like sifting and kneading clay for pottery, spinning yam and embroidery were some of the works which depended upon female labour. The more commercialised the product, the greater the demand on women’s labour to produce it. Actually peasant, artisan women not only worked in the fields but they also went to houses of their employers and even to markets if required. Females were seen as an important source in agrarian society because they were child bearers in a society which was dependent on labour.

Status of women in society : The position of the women in society was of the mixed nature.

(i)    There was high mortality rate among women. That’s why married women were less in number. It helped in emergence of social customs in artisan and peasant society which were different from customs of elite groups. In many rural communities, male had to pay bride price instead of dowry to the bride’s family. Remarriage was legally sanctioned for both divorced and widowed women.

(ii)    According to popular traditions, male was head of the family. In this way, females remained under control of males and the family. If any female was coming under scanner of misconduct then she was strictly punished by the society.

(iii)    Amongst the landed gentry, women had the right to inherit property. We have found certain examples from Punjab which show that women (even widows also) actively participated in rural land market as sellers of property inherited by them. They were free to sell or mortgage their land.