Women who farm not recognized as farmers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2023 (774 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘I have farmed all my life, having grown up on a family farm and continuing to farm. Growing crops and caring for animals is my principal livelihood. Despite this record, it has been challenging to be recognized as a farmer.

“The term ‘farmer’ is so firmly male gendered that women who farm have had to advocate to even be named as farmers, let alone be accredited with knowledge, expertise and standing in this field. Agriculture the world over is deeply patriarchal.”

These words published in the Journal of Peasant Studies earlier this year were written by Nettie Wiebe, a Saskatchewan farmer, philosophy professor and former farm leader.

She refers to herself in that article as an “agrarian feminist.”

I see her as a campaigner for basic human rights. Because what she’s referring to in that passage isn’t a women’s issue per se, even though it often gets framed that way. It’s about how we value people differently and how societal perceptions can shape even how people value themselves.

Wiebe’s comments weren’t intended to summarize a lengthy report just released from the Farm Management Council of Canada that attempts to quantify the work women do on Canadian farms, how that work is valued or how these women perceive themselves.

Yet however unintentional, her words, in signature form, succinctly cut to the heart of the key issues.

Women do a lot more than they get credit for keeping farm boats afloat. Yet when the research team went looking for relevant data to support the obvious, they had a hard time finding much.

The report cites an observation by Wiebe from an earlier work:

“Farm women face a complex array of challenges,” she wrote in Changing Methods: Feminists Transforming Practice, published in 1995.

“Their position remains largely invisible, their farm work unremunerated and indeed their status as legitimate farmers unrecognized. The working reality of farm women includes not only the work they do but also how this work is described, counted and valued. But a history of leaving farm women’s work uncounted, discounted and undervalued inhibits attempts to collect accurate data using standard methods…”

Little has changed more than a quarter-century later.

Parameters established to measure what men do in a typical farm operation don’t necessarily apply to the multifaceted roles many women carry. They may not be ‘the’ owner, or operator, or manager. They might not even be paid. But they are often one of the decision-makers, an equipment operator, the person who runs for parts, the person who keeps everyone fed and whose off-farm salary buys the groceries.

Oddly, many women who work full-time on a farm don’t define themselves as farmers.

“Results show that only a slight majority of respondents strongly agree with the statement ‘I consider myself a farmer,’ and almost one quarter of respondents disagree. An unexpected finding is that responses did not tend to correlate with their involvement on the farm.

“For example, 66 per cent of farm women who strongly agree with the statement ‘I consider myself a farmer’ reported their involvement on the farm as ‘full time, all the time.’ Similarly, 61 per cent of farm women who strongly disagreed also rated their involvement in the farm as ‘full time, all the time,’” the report says.

How can someone who spends their life farming not see themselves as a farmer?

The researchers found that the answer to that is shaped at least in part, by how others define them rather than demographics such as age, education or farm structure. It also lies in performing multidimensional roles that defy standardized definitions.

“The broad range and diversity of activities undertaken underscores that there is no typical role for a farm woman and that viewing the data in aggregate or as averages provides very limited insight into individual experiences,” the report says.

Why does it matter?

“One must consider what impact this lack of data is having on policy and program decisions, skills development, innovation and growth opportunities. As well, from a commercial perspective, there appears to be a customer group that needs to be better understood,” the report concludes.

You can’t support what you don’t see.

Laura Rance is vice-president of content for Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at lrance@farmmedia.com