Men tend to grow cash crops and keep the income, while women use their land primarily for subsistence crops to feed their families. Johnson Women make an essential contribution to producing staple crops. In Southeast Asia, for example, it is women who provide up to 90 percent of the labour for rice cultivation. They do almost all the work of planting and transplanting, fertilizing, weeding, irrigating and harvesting. After the rice has been harvested, they also carry out the post-harvest tasks before the rice can be stored, marketed, cooked or eaten.
Women also play a big role in growing secondary crops, such as legumes and vegetables.
In addition to providing essential nutrients, these crops are often the only food available during the lean season between harvests or when the main harvest fails. Home gardens, often tended almost exclusively by women, also claim precious labour-intensive time. Despite their often complementary roles in agriculture, studies have shown that in almost all societies, women tend to work longer hours than men. The difference in workloads is particularly marked for rural women, the world's principal food producers. Women are involved in every stage of food production and, although there is a gender-based division of labour, women do tend to shoulder the larger share.