Gender as a social construct of quality of life within farm families practicing sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture constitutes an internationally recognized critique of conventional agricultural practices. The criteria defining sustainable agriculture are diverse and, in some cases, contradictory. However, proponents of sustainable agriculture do not aggressively question such diversity in the movement. This study attempts to highlight the variation in subjective meanings attached to sustainable agriculture, reflected in its goal to improve quality of life. The social construct of gender makes a difference in how these farmers define quality of life. This social construction in turn affects participation in the sustainable agriculture movement. At the root of these gendered differences is that life goals and daily experiences for men farmers within the family have changed significantly as their involvement in the movement has intensified. Much of what men emphasize in describing quality of life reflects the values the sustainable agriculture movement itself espouses; the collective identity of the sustainable agriculture movement resonates with these male farmers. For their wives, descriptions of quality of life are largely entwined with their multiple and highly elastic gendered roles and responsibilities on the farm, in the household, and in paid and unpaid work in the community, and much less with their involvement in the movement. Women’s life experiences on the farm and in the community are different from their husbands’ experiences, lending a distinctively gendered shape to quality of life. They report indicators of quality of life outside of the movement’s collective identity boundaries. Because women’s unique contribution to the farm and family are not institutionally recognized and addressed by the sustainable agriculture movement, the collective identity of the movement is gender-specific, reflecting a male normative.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Department dc:contributor.department

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Meares, Alison

• social movements
• family farms

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-02132009-172509

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41104