Doing Farm Tourism: The Intertwining Practices of Gender and Work

Drawing on the perspective of doing gender, Berit Brandth and Marit S. Haugen explore how women and men do gender in farm tourist work. On the basis of five case studies of farms that have shifted from farm production to hosting tourists, the expectation is that the new occupation of tourism may create conditions for (un)doing gender at the interactional level and reshuffling power within the couple. The segmented work and unequal work statuses of men and women known from research on family farming seem to be less distinct in farm tourism as women are managers and men do cleaning, catering, and caring. However, the symbolic meaning of the indoor‐outdoor dichotomy plays a defining role. And even if women and men have changed their performances, gender and work are still interpreted and perceived according to the heterosexual matrix.© 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved

Gender and sustainable livelihoods: linking gendered experiences of environment, community and self

In this essay I explore the economic, social, environmental and cultural changes taking place in Bolsena, Italy, where agricultural livelihoods have rapidly diminished in the last two decades. I examine how gender dynamics have shifted with the changing values and livelihoods of Bolsena through three women’s narratives detailing their gendered experiences of environment, community and self. I reflect on these changes with Sabrina, who is engaged in a feminist community-based organization; Anna, who is running an alternative wine bar; and Isabella, a jeweler, who is engaged in ecofeminist practices. My analysis is based on concepts developed by feminist political ecology: specifically, the theory of rooted networks from Dianne Rocheleau, Donna Haraway’s concept of naturecultures (and the work of J. K. Gibson-Graham on new economic imaginaries emerging from the politics of place. I aim to think with, reflect upon and provoke from the ‘‘otherwise’’, taking into account the lived relations entwining nature and gender. My article looks at the interconnections of gender, environment and livelihoods, attentive to the daily needs, embodied interactions and labours of these three women as part of a reappropriation, reconstruction and reinvention of Bolsena’s lifeworld. By listening to the stories of their everyday lives and struggles, I show the dynamic potential of the politics of place and the efforts to build diverse economies and more ethical economic and ecological relationships based on gender-aware subjectivities and values

Gender quotas for agricultural boards: changing constructions of gender?

This article explores the processes by which gender is given meaning through social interaction in boardrooms. In Norway, alongside mandatory quotas regulating the composition of Public Limited Company boards, voluntary quotas were designed to increase women's membership on the boards of agricultural co-operatives. This radical step to secure a minimum of 40 per cent women makes these boards an interesting site for investigating the construction of gender in a traditionally male-dominated organization. In the debate, arguments in favour of a quota accentuated diversity and differences between women's and men's competences, opinions and values. The analysis of interview data from the boards of four agricultural co-operatives suggests that equal representation is a muted, taken-for-granted value. Equality and diversity are not understood as incompatible ideas, and gender is produced dynamically through practice rather than constituted as an inherent, fixed attribute. Gender as difference is less pervasive than expected as women tend to be recognized as belonging to the gender-neutral category of a board representative despite any recognized differences. The study demonstrates that voluntary quotas may change the context and both challenge old assumptions and promote new understandings of gender in local situations.acceptedVersio

Farmers framing fatherhood: everyday life and rural change

This article explores how farming fathers frame fatherhood according to time-specific ideals. Based on interviews with fathers and their adult sons in Norway, findings show clear differences between the two generations concerning how fathers engage with their children and justify their practices. For the older generation, the major frames are “complementary gender roles,” “good farming practices” and “farm succession.” The current generation frames their fathering practices in “involved fathering,” “changing childhoods” and “intensive parenting.” Considering where the frames come from, it is notable that the older generation refers to local cultural accounts of agriculture when justifying their fathering practices, while the frames used by the current generation are not farm related but refer to broader social and cultural accounts of their time. The framing perspective used in this article contributes to understanding the ideological transformation of agricultural fatherhood in a period in which the patriarchal contours of agriculture may be changing

'Tough and Tender'? Agricultural masculinities and fathering practices

This article is concerned with how hegemonic masculine activities comply with farming fathers’ caregiving to possibly change masculinity and produce gender equality. Based on interviews with farming fathers, several activities with children are narrated as part of their fathering practices, such as hunting, outdoor leisure activities. These are firmly within traditional male areas and serve to uphold hegemonic masculinity. This notwithstanding, combined with caregiving, they show a fluidity and hybridization of masculinity in which the “tough” is combined with the “tender.” The fathers also report avoiding prioritizing work at the expense of their children and that they do more caregiving in the home than previous generations, although mothers are still in charge. This implies blurring, but nevertheless conservation, of gender boundaries. A dismantling of rural hegemonic masculinity still seems to be a distance away

Farm tourism and dilemmas of commercial activity in the home

This article aims to analyse the overlap between work and home in farm tourism. When farmers diversify their production into tourism using their homes as a commercial arena for hosting visitors, new challenges regarding boundaries between private and public, home and work arise. The article shows how central aspects of hosting involve inherent dilemmas between the farm as a home and as a site of commercial activities. Moreover, it shows how the boundaries between work and home are managed in order to balance business and a sense of home. Such boundary work consists of attempts at adjusting the product, marking rules and creating separate spaces for home and work, something that produces a more conditional hospitality. The analysis is based on studies of twenty family farms from various districts in Norway. The material includes formal interviews with sixteen women and nineteen men operating the businesses.acceptedVersio

Farm diversification into tourism - Implications for social identity?

-This article deals with how diversification and transformation of farming into tourism may influence the social identity of farmers. Based on a study of 19 farms run by couples engaged with agritourism, it shows how the development of tourism on the farms can be understood in a perspective of repeasantization; and how the couples draw on their farm work, culture and place to situate themselves in a new working role. Through food, stories, activities and themselves as hosts they mediate a strong farm identity. The article also explores how identities change through identifying three processes by which the ‘new’ work of tourism may destabilize identities. One is a shift in the meaning of farmer identity. Another is the gradual change towards a new master identity, and thirdly it finds a multiplicity of identities practiced as serial identities that shift as they relate to various social memberships and settings.Research Council of Norway and the Agricultural Agreement Research Fund, Rural Tourism and Traditional Food in Norway (HANEN) and Sparebank1-SM

When farm couples break up: gendered moralities, gossip and the fear of stigmatisation in rural communities

This article draws on interviews with farm women and men who have experienced a family break up to analyse their experiences of gender expectations in family farming, their fear of stigmatisation and their receipt of help from the rural community. The interviews illustrate their compliance with dominant constructions of rural gendered moralities. Men struggled to live up to the ideals of rural masculinity, which centre on hard work, self-sufficiency and mental strength. Women, who were strongly influenced by the moral norms of rural womanhood, managed to retain their feminine dignity as being caring and considerate of the family. Rural communities are often characterised as nurturing close relationships, but also as being pervaded by social control and gossip. Both women and men interpreted their break up as a private matter and deliberately avoided disclosing their relationship problems in order to protect themselves and their families from gossip, which made it difficult for them to seek and receive help from the rural community. While some of the hardships are recognisable for any divorced couple, the article is concerned with the rural farm particularities of the divorce situation.acceptedVersio

Les pères en congé parental en Norvège. Changements et continuités

Fathers on parental leave in Norway. What has changed and what stays the same This article deals with what Norwegian fathers do during their parental leave when their partners are not present. Norway capped the amount of leave specifically for fathers in a parental leave system that has been in place since 1993. Since then, the quota has been extended from four weeks to 10 today. Based on interviews of fathers who took this leave when it was introduced in 1993, and of other fathers who took it between 2009 and 2011, the authors analyse what has changed in their practices. Whereas the first generation of stay-at-home fathers considered that looking after their child excluded them from doing housework, fathers these days include household chores in their childcare. They also seem to develop better interpersonal skills and stronger emotional ties with their child, along with a feeling of responsibility for their wellbeing, taking them from the role of mother''s helper to that of " coparent".Cet article porte sur ce que font les pères norvégiens en congé parental sans la présence de leur conjointe. La Norvège a instauré un quota de congés dédié aux pères, au sein d’un système de congés parentaux en place depuis 1993. Depuis cette date, ce quota a été étendu de quatre à dix semaines aujourd’hui. À partir d’entretiens auprès de pères qui ont utilisé ce congé lors de son instauration en 1993 et auprès d’autres pères l’ayant pris entre 2009 et 2011, les auteures analysent les changements opérés dans leurs pratiques. Alors que pour la première génération de pères « à la maison » , s’occuper de l’enfant excluait la prise en charge des tâches ménagères, les pères actuels intègrent celles-ci au travail de soin. Ils paraissent également développer des compétences relationnelles et des liens émotionnels plus forts avec leur enfant, ainsi qu’un sentiment de responsabilité de leur bien-être les faisant passer du rôle d’aidant de la mère à celui de « coparent ».Kvande Elin, Brandth Berit. Les pères en congé parental en Norvège. Changements et continuités. In: Revue des politiques sociales et familiales, n°122, 2016. Exercice de la paternité et congé parental en Europe. pp. 11-18

Enabling or promoting gender equality though parental leave policies

The Nordic welfare states pioneered parental leave arrangements for fathers and not just mothers to care for their young children at home during their first year of life. The parental leave rights for fathers consist of one part that is family based and one part that is individually given to fathers. The article aims to show how these two types of leave have influenced the fathers’ experiences and appreciation of parental leave. Findings show that family based parental leave rights given to parents to share seem to enable gender equality, but as there is no pressure on fathers to use them. They are defined as mother’s rights and thus they have less positive effects than individual, non-transferrable leave. Individual parental leave rights such as the father’s quota is better able to promote gender equality in parental leave use and childcareLos Estados de bienestar de los países nórdicos fueron pioneros en la introducción de permisos parentales para los padres, y no sólo para las madres, para cuidar de sus hijos durante el primer año de vida. El derecho de los padres al permiso parental consiste en una parte reconocida como un derecho familiar y otra parte reconocida a título de derecho individual. Este artículo persigue mostrar cómo ambos tipos de permiso han influido en las vivencias y valoración de los padres del permiso parental. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que la parte del permiso parental reconocido como derecho familiar, que ambos progenitores deben compartir, pero no fuerza a los padres a usarlo, posibilita la igualdad de género. Los derechos individuales al permiso, como es la cuota para el padre, permite una promoción más efectiva de la igualdad de género en el uso de los permisos y en el cuidado de los niños