Trickling In Steadily: Women Leave Homes, Travel Hours To Join Family In Farmers' Protest

Alongside their husbands, fathers, and sons, women have also joined the protest against the three contentious farm laws.

"The profession of farming is not defined by gender. Our fields don’t produce crops differently if tended by women and men. Many male farmers are? protesting. Why should we sit at home?" asked 53-year-old Mandeep Kaur, a farmer from Ludhiana who refuses to be stereotyped into any one role, reported PTI.

Another woman, named Sukhwinder Kaur, also reached Singhu border after traveling for five hours by bus, along with with Mandeep Kaur. She could stay only for a day because she also had her home to tend to, but assured that she will be back.

"I wasn't being able to sleep at night properly. I couldn't sit back at home while my brother and nephew, and all our farmer brothers, are fighting here. I had my first good night of sleep after I came here," said Sukhwinder, reports PTI.

Sukhwinder and Mandeep, with several other woman protestors, slept in a water-proof tent provided by Khalsa Aid, an international NGO.

"We are 'gharelu' women, don't know much about the world, but after coming here I have realised how big this fight is. We are prepared for it, however long it takes. The kind of help we are getting for the protest shows the entire country is with us. I have heard that people from Australia, Canada and America are also with us," she said.

Staying on the Haryana side of the border, many women had to take a bit of a stroll to find a toilet, which was on the Delhi side.

The farmers' protest at Delhi borders has entered the next leg as thousands of farmers have taken over the Delhi-Jaipur highway and are on a hunger strike today, intensifying the agitation against farm laws.

Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, declared that he too will observe a day-long fast on Monday to express solidarity with the farmers. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener appealed to the central government to "shun ego and scrap the legislation."

In support of the farmers movement, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, ministers in Delhi government Satyendar Jain, Gopal Rai and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, are sitting on hunger strike.