Then and Now: Ten Years of Arkansas Women in Agriculture

The US Agricultural Census show that between 2002 and 2012, the number of women operators in Arkansas grew 14 percent (from 19,856 to 22,637). These women operators have made up an increasingly larger percent of all farm operators in the state (from almost 29% to nearly 33%). There is little published information regarding how women’s roles, challenges and factors important to their success may have changed over time. While some surveys of farm women have been conducted, these surveys are generally insufficient because data exist only for one point in time. This poster uses survey data collected across ten years (2005-2014) at Arkansas Women in Agriculture (ARWIA) conferences to compare women’s perceptions regarding: 1) their roles in agriculture, 2) the successes and challenges they face, 3) how their roles have changed over time, and 4) how that change has influenced their family lives, agriculture and the rural community. It is hoped that this set of baseline information can be useful not only to researchers and educators interested in addressing needs of local women but also in illustrating the continuing changes in women’s roles and their needs and thus the need for extended research over time to address these changes.