ABSTRACT
Participation of womcn in dairy sector was found as high as 75 million women against 15 million men. In spite of the fact that women participation in dairy activities is very high; their role in livestock production has often been under estimated or ignored. Tools to perform dairy activities are rarely designed as per the needs of women and they often work with faulty tools which are responsible for higher physiological and muscular stress. Keeping these problems in mind, the present study was undertaken to know the percentage of women involved in dairy sector, time spent and the difficulties faced by them. Most time consuming, frequently performed and drudgery prone activities performed by women were identified on the basis of collected data and two improved tools viz, sickle for cutting fodder and low height revolving woven stool for sitting while milking animals were designed as per the ergonomic needs of women. The ergonomic assessment of improved tools designed for the women involved in drudgery prone activities was done by using suitable ergonomic tools and techniques. The impact of these two improved tools designed for women were assessed on the basis of reduction in ergonomic and muscular stresses. The results of the study showed that out of all the dairy activities perfonned by the women, cutting & bringing fodder and milking animals were found as most time consuming and difficult tasks and these were performed by the maximum number of women in Punjab. The impact of improved tools was found positive and significant. Rural women are therefore
motivated to use the improved tools to reduce their ergonomlc and muscular stresses.
