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Beyond farming women: queering gender, work and family farms

Author

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  • Prisca Pfammatter

    (Wageningen University)

  • Joost Jongerden

    (Wageningen University)

Abstract

The issue of gender and agriculture has been on the research agendas of civil society organisations, governments, and academia since the 1970s. Starting from the role of women in agriculture, research has mainly focused on the gendered division of work and the normative constitution of the farm as masculine. Although the gendered division of work has been questioned, the idea of binary gender has mostly been taken as a given. This explorative research shifts the attention from the production of (traditional) gender roles to the making and unmaking of binary gender. An ethnographic study of four farms in Switzerland is drawn on to explore queer farming practices and investigate how queer farmers navigate gender normativity and what this tells us about gender in agriculture more broadly. After considering the mechanisms through which queer farmers are discouraged from farming as a livelihood on the basis of their sex, gender or sexuality, this article argues that queer farmers de- and re-construct gender and farming identities differently, which has research and policy implications for a more diverse and resilient rurality.

Suggested Citation

  • Prisca Pfammatter & Joost Jongerden, 2023. "Beyond farming women: queering gender, work and family farms," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(4), pages 1639-1651, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:40:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s10460-023-10449-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-023-10449-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hoppe, Robert & Korb, Penni, 2013. "Characteristics of Women Farm Operators and Their Farms," Economic Information Bulletin 148543, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Sandra Contzen & Jérémie Forney, 2017. "Family farming and gendered division of labour on the move: a typology of farming-family configurations," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(1), pages 27-40, March.
    3. Unay-Gailhard, İlkay & Bojnec, Štefan, 2021. "Gender and the environmental concerns of young farmers: Do young women farmers make a difference on family farms?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 88, pages 71-82.
    4. Garner, Elisabeth & de la O Campos, Ana Paula, "undated". "Identifying the family farm. An informal discussion of the concepts and definitions," ESA Working Papers 288978, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jasmina Thomas & Nidhi Wali & Nichole Georgeou & Seeseei Molimau-Samasoni, 2025. "Indigenous Knowledge, Gender and Agriculture: A Scoping Review of Gendered Roles for Food Sustainability in Tonga, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Fiji," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-23, June.

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