Women represent half the world’s human resources. Though women perform different roles [reproduction (only women), household (housework, food preparation, child earning,…), and productive (income generating activities)], women continue to be mainly responsible for ‘care economy’. his study makes an attempt to understand the nature and impact of STEP programme on women and to draw lessons for future policy exercises. The specific objectives of the study are: (1) to study performance of ‘all women dairy cooperative societies’ (WDCSs) in different agro-climatic regions; (2) to calculate quantitative and qualitative changes in women covered under STEP programme; (3) to observe the differential decision making pattern of farm women in various animal husbandry tasks; (4) to develop an empowerment scale for women dairy farmers; and (5) to document working of self-help groups among respondents.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR V.M. Rao
V.M. Rao (b. 1954) holds a doctorate in Dairy Economics and is currently working as Professor and HOD, Department of Research and Publications at Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management, Pune. He has earlier worked with National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad (1984-88), Ahmedabad (1988-92). On a British Council’s fellowship, Prof. Rao visited Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom. He has authored/co-authored six books: (a) Dairy Framing Socio-Economic analysis of Milk Production (1991), (b) Castor Economy: A Profile and analysis of India and International Market (1991), (c) International Castor Oil Market: An Econometric Analysis (1994), (d) Developing Agro Enterprises Among Farm Women: A Case of Amul (2000), (e) Empowering Farm Women through Dairy Cooperatives: A Study in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (2003), and (f) Socio-Economic Status of Tribal women in Arunachal Pradesh (2003). Besides these books, he has published over 60 research papers in various professional journals/books. Dr. Rao also participated in a number of national and international seminars/conferences. His areas of interest are (a) animal husbandry economics, (b) agri-business management, and (c) gender related issues. He has completed 19 research studies sponsored by Government of India, ICSSR, and other state governments in the above areas during 1980-02. Currently, he is engaged in (a) integrating tribal women into cooperative: an experience of Girijan cooperative corporation, (b) impact of women dairy project in Orissa, and (c) impact of women dairy project (Phase 4) in Bihar.
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