Women are involved in almost every farm operation in agriculture. Rice farming is an area where participation of women is very significant andthe majority of farm operations were either carried out by women alone or jointly with men. Understanding the dynamism of roles and responsibilities of men and women in various farm and household activities is very important to address the gender issues in agriculture. A study was undertaken in network mode in five states of the country to assess farm women’s role and responsibilities in the rice production system. The study revealed that very less houses were headed by women with variations of 2.4-12.4% in selected regions of the country. The regions having a scarcity of water source have resulted in more pressure of fetching water on farm
women. Women membership remained restricted mostly up to self-help group level, whereas men represented up to district level. Joint access over farm resources was also in increasing order. The family women contributed maximum hours in storing of seeds followed by winnowing, harvesting, drying of produce and transplanting. Whereas women labour were involved in transplanting followed by other farm operations/ activities. Among studied states, Uttarakhand recorded the highest mean participation of women across the crops followed by Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.