MGNREGA and Women Participation in Andhra Pradesh: Performance and Challenges

Abstract

Towards the attainment of the women empowerment and bridging the gender imbalances at the household and community levels in rural areas, MGNREGA is a great milestone. The gender disparities prevailing in the countryside have been adversely affecting the quality of life of rural women. The gender sensitive, demand-led MGNREGA has the potential to correct the anomalies in labour market along with gender based discrimination. The effective delivery system with pro-women bias may be promising and efficacious to ensure the process of women participation in development programmes and also to have access and control over the use of resources. Andhra Pradesh is one of the few states in the country with high participation of women in MGNREGA. This also underlines the fact that female wages are much higher in the MGNREGA scheme in Andhra Pradesh than the non-public casual works in the state. The paper explores the MGNREGA to look into the status of rural unemployment and poverty rate in Andhra Pradesh with special reference to gender and rationale for the MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh, to study the role of MGNREGA in providing employment to rural women and offer suggestion and recommendations for more women participation in MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh.