54 SOCIAL SCIENTIST Nature of work Sex of the worker Payment (per day) w W (^ 31 Manuring sugar-cane fields Only male Rs.3.50 32 Sowing sugarcane 33 Reaping of potato 34 Wheat cutting Male and female Male and female Male and female Rs.3/- for male & Rs. 2.50 for female Rs.3/- for male & Rs. 2.50 for female Rs.3/- for male & Rs. 2.50 for female 35 Threshing of wheat crops 36 Winnowing Mostly male Only female Rs.3/-2 seers of wheat NOTE: One seer of muri (puffed rice) weighs approximately 100 grams.appears to prevail. (b) Activity-wise, wage differences indicate that different kinds of non-substitutable labour are involved. The labour that the employer may hire for purposes of ploughing may be a different commodity altogether from his point of view compared to transplantation work. For purpose of heavier work like ploughing the employer prefers the labour of male workers, for transplantation of paddy, female labour. The point at issue is that a male labourer will not be employed in the place of a female labourer and vice versa. Further research is needed on whether the customary sex-based division of labour in farm operations is tending to be affected with the adoption of new technology. MANABENDU CHATTOPADHYAY*1 Planning Commission (Government of Tndia), Women in Employment (1901-1956), 1958. 2 D R Gadgil, Notes on Working Force in India, Bombay, Asia Publishing House, 1965; see also Kamla Nath, "Female Work Participation and Economic Development: A Regional Analysis", Economic and Political Weekly, May 23, 1970. 3 For details, see Kalpana Bardhan, "Rural Employment, Wages and Labour Markets in India: A Survey of Research", Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Agriculture), December 23,1977. 4 Padmini Sengupta, Women Workers of India, Bombay, Asia Publishing House, 1960. 5 Leela Gulati, "Female Work Participation: A Study of Inter-State Differences", Economic and Political Weekly, January 11, 1975. 6 M H Billings and A Singh, "Labour and Green Revolution: the Experience of Punjab", Economic and Political Weekly (Review of Agriculture), December 25,1969. *Sociological Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.