Knowledge and socio-professional trajectories of female farmers

Abstract

The professional qualifications of women farmers are determined by the education acquired and by the place assigned to them in the sexual division of labour in the production process, which in turn, implies a division, by sex, of education and knowledge. For women farmers with a rural background, instruction is provided not on the farmland (as in the case of the men folk) but rather in a domestic atmosphere which is the centre of their activity. The knowhow acquired in the domestic sphere is later transferred to the professional sphere, which partly accounts for the fact that the contribution of women farmers in not recognized by society. Women cannot acquire, with rare exceptions, the technical knowledge necessary in farming, which is passed from father to son. It is the men who are educated to run the property, and it is they who, in fact, inherit it.

Nor have Women's organization in rural communities helped to professionalize women farmers, but rather have directed their efforts towards perfecting their mission as mothers and wives. Moreover, formal education has not filled this gap. Girls do not study technical subjects in agricultural colleges, preferring other specialties. In fact, the deficient technical knowledge of the majority of women farmers is partly to blame for their precarious position in farm employment structure. Very few women become farm managers; the vast majority are simply family helpers. Nevertheless, in this latter category, a certain diversity of professional qualifications of women exists, and these can be paralleled to their different attitudes towards work and family life.