FARM WOMEN IN EUROPE: THEIR NEED FOR OFF FARM EMPLOYMENT*

b RUTH GASSON

Agricultural Economics Unit, Wyt College, AJbford, Kent, England

WOMEN IN THE LABOUR FORCE

Women make up a substantial proportion of the paid labour force in the countries of western Europe, ranging from over 40 per cent in the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries in the late 1970s to below 30 per cent in Luxembourg, Italy, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Female activity rates, that is the proportion of women in work or seeking cmploy- ment, are likewise highest in Scandinavia and lower in countries like Italy and the Netherlands. According to Table 1, 37 per cent of all women over 14 in the European Economic Community were economically active in 1975, a total of 38 million women. Since these figures were compiled, the female component has probably risen. Most rapid growth, in recent years, has been associated with employment of married women. In Britain, for example, half the married women work outside the home and they make up nearly two-thirds of the female workforce.

The proportion of farm women or farmers’ spouses with other gainful activities, which usually means off farm jobs, varies considerably between countries but tends to be below the national female activity rate. Data from a number of studies show a range from some 10 to 15 pcr cent in England and Wales, France, Finland, Norway and Yugoslavia, to 28 per cent in Poland and almost a third in Israel, Denmark and Sweden (see FAOIECA, 1983: Gasson, 1983; Siiskonen, 1983; Hetland, 1983; Barbic et al., 1983; Tryfan, 1983; Thoden, 1983; Andersson, 1983). In the United States, too, Jones and Rosenfeld (1981) discovered from their national sur- vey that roughly a third of farm women participated in the off farm labour force.

* This is a rcviscd version of a papx prepared for a seminar on “Thc Roles of Worncn and Mcn in Europcan Agriculture” hcld at rhc Bdlagio Ccnrcr, Italy in Novcmbcr 1984, spon- sored by rhc Equity Policy Ccnrcr of Washingon DC, rhc Iralian Association of Women in Dcvcloprncnr and rhc Intcrnational Association of Agriculrural Economisrs.

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TABLE 1. Women m fhc Iahur force in srkcfed W a f European countries

Country Year Womcn as per cent of Pcr cent of women working population cconomically activc

Finland Sweden Dcnmark Unircd Kingdom Norway FR Germany Fnncc Bclgium Luxcmbourg

Ircland Nctherlands EEC

ltdy

1978 1977 1977 1978 1977 1976 1976 1976 1976 1976 1976 1976 1976

46.5 43.7 42.2 41 39.6 37.7 37.2 34.4 28.4 28.1 26.6 24.3 35.9

57 61 59 43 51 35 41 na na 25 na 22 37

Sourca: Ccntral Statistical Of fcc of Finland (1980). Position L$ Womm. Statistical Survcys No. 65. Hclsinki. Commission of the European Communities (1978), Tk European Cmmuniv and Workjor Wmm. Supplcmcnt N o . 2 ro Women of Europe. Brussels.

na = not availablc

WOMEN’S NEED FOR EMPLOYMENT

This paper speculates on the reasons why some farm women should seek work off the farm instead of, or in addition to, helping on the family hold- ing and considers some of the factors affecting their activity rate. The need for farm women to seek off farm employment can be approached from two angles. It can be seen as a special case of the woman’s need to find paid work outside the home. It can also be viewed as an aspect of part time farming or pluriactivity, where one or more farm family members combi- ne another gainful activity with farming. This paper adopts the former approach, considering why women seek employment outside the home and developing the theme with particular reference to women on farms. The hypotheses put forward in the paper have not been tested rigorously. As a preliminary step, data from the literature on farm women are used to illu- strate the various themes. Most examples are drawn from Britain, supple- mented with findings from other countries, mainly in western Europe.

Reasons why women look for work outside the home can be divided into financial, social and personal motives. The need to earn an income is fundamental and may indeed be the only reason why many women seek work outside the home. Under the heading of financial needs, however, two different kinds of motivation may be distinguished. The woman’s earnings may be necessary to sustain the family’s level of living and future well being and to keep pace with rising expectations. At a more personal

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level the woman may “need” an individual wage packet to guarantee her- self some degree of independence, more power in family decision making, a measure of security for the future.

Social needs for employment outside the home can likewise bc consider- ed under two headings. Work usually means company, association with others, but besides this there is the need to be seen to be usefully employed in order to enjoy the status, recognition and social approval which goes with doing a “real” job.

Having a job can also fulfill a deeper,persmal need. In our work orien- ted western society, we tend to search for self identity through employ- ment. With achievement in a career, which can be measured by earnings, status or promotion, comes a sense of personal fulfilment and self worth. This is not to imply, of course, that paid employment is the only means of satisfying a woman’s personal needs. Marriage, motherhood, home making and voluntary work can all gratify these needs to some degree. Nevenhe- less, with the trend in our society for woman’s child bearing and rearing period to be compressed into fewer years while life expectancy is rising, women are left with more years of active life after children have left home. Furthermore, as “going out to work” becomes the norm, those women who remain a t home are likely to feel increasingly isolated and deviant.

These various motivations for work can be ranked as in Maslow’s hier- archy of needs (Maslow, 1954). The need for work as a means co provide income and security can be regarded as the most basic and urgent. Only when financial needs have been gratified, at least to some extent, can the more social needs for company and status begin to emerge. W i t h social needs at least partially met, the individual dwells increasingly on his “inner” needs for a sense of personal identity and self worth. Whilst all needs may exist in a latent form in everyone, Maslow suggests that some will assume greater salience than others, depending on the level of gratifi- cation. A person struggling for a subsistence wage, for instance, will be unlikely to bother much about the status attached to his job whilst to someone with a better paid, highly secure post, this may become the over riding concern.

IS FARM WORK A N ADEQUATE SUBSTITUTE?

Because they are part of the larger society, women living on farms are like- ly to experience the same needs for employment as other women in that society. While there is usually plenty of work to keep women occupied on the home farm (with the possible exception of very small, very specialised or very large, labour employing farms) i t seems doubtful whether this acti- vity will satisfy the woman’s financial, social and personal needs as descri- bed above.

Looking first at income needs, farm incomes in western Europe generally

lag behind non-farm incomes. At present no more than a fifth of all farm- ing families in the EC earns incomes from farming which are comparable with non-farming incomes in the same area (Craps, 1977). Only 57 per cent of farms in the Community in 1975 provided enough work for one “annual work unit”, implying that 43 per cent could not employ even one person full time or provide a reasonable full time wage. Such farms were particularly numerous in Italy, Belgium and West Germany (Frank, 1983). Hence on a large proportion of farms in the Community, and elsewhere too, one or both spouses will need to find other work to satisfy the family’s income needs.

Working on the farm at home will be unlikely to satisfy a woman’s need for financial indepadpnce and security. Farmers’ wives and daughters who receive a regular wage for their work and pay social security contribu- tions are probably a minority. Although “farmer and wife’s labour” may be deducted as a nominal charge from net farm income, for accounting and tax purposes, this is not to say that the farmer’s wife actually has that sum at her disposal. The farmer’s wife working a t home probably has little con- trol over her pension tights, either.

Third, working on the home farm is unlikely to give a woman sufficient social contact. As farming becomes more mechanised and the human work- force shrinks, so it is becoming a very lonely occupation. In the United Kingdom, for example, nearly half the farmers and spouses are o n holdings where they provide at least 80 per cent of the labour and over a quarter are on holdings where they make up the entire labour force (Britton, 1979).

Fourth, a paid job can be a source of status, recognition and social approval, but this depends on the job being visible and valued by the rest of society. Symes (1982) observed in Norway that: “Thc younger generation are less willing to accept the limited horizons and submerged identity of part time employment on a small farm”. “The global invisibility of women and their work” is a familiar cry and one which was voiced by many wives who took part in a survey of farm women’s activities, conducted through the British paper Fannen Weekly, “The contribution that women, especially farmers’ wives, makc on farms is far greater than is realised by the general public . . . Women, especially farmers’ wives, are underestimated and deserve much more credit than they are given . . . Vital but mostly unacknowledged . . . It is not widely appreciated outside farming that there is a vast difference between ‘Occupation - housewife’ and ‘Occupation - farmer’s wife’.’’

In response to their “global invisibility”, farm women may turn to off farm employment to win the necessary social approval. “The wage acquires a social content beyond its financial content, particularly to women farm- ers; it is the contemporary symbol of recognition of woman’s work” (FAOIECA, 1983).

Fifth, having a job can bring a woman se/fcm@nce andpersonal fupl- m t . Although some women find this fulfilment in farming, whether

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through running their own farms, bcing responsible for cenain enterprises on the family holding or being active and equal partners with their hus- bands, not all farm businesses can provide just such a niche for the farmer’s wife. Some would not even welcome such a role because their talents or inclinations lie elsewhere.

To sum up, in many cases working on the home farm cannot take the place of a paid off farm job. It is unlikely to meet the woman’s needs for income, financial independence and security, social contact and recogni- tion. Some but not all wornen find personal fulfilment in farm work.

FINDINGS ON FARM WOMEN’S MOTIVES FOR OFF FARM EMPLOYMENT

While most of the available data underline the importance of the financial motive, other reasons for women working off the farm are much in eviden- ce. Among a sample of nearly a thousand American farm women with off farm employment, for instance, 57 per cent said that they needed the money, 18 per ccnt wanted to get out of the house and see people and 16 per cent wished to use and keep up skills (Jones & Rosenfeld, 1981). Finan- cing farm investment was an important motive for farm women working off the farm in Norway (Hctland, 1983) and in Wisconsin (Kada, 1980). Moseley and Darby (1978) considered that although financial considera- tions were usually dominant in any analysis of why women went out to work, the additional social and psychological benefits might be particularly important for women living in remoter rural areas.

A t the Technical Consultation on Women in Rural Pluriactivity held in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia in 1983 (FAO/ECA, 1983) a number of delegates commented on farm women’s reasons for seeking other employment. Thus while 84 per ccnt of Bclgian farmers’ wives gave financial reasons for having jobs off the farm, German women suggested that their preferences for a non-farm activity were more psychological than material. For young Israeli farm women, making use of vocational training, building a career and personal fulfilment were important motives besides the financial one. Young women in Spain were reported to be seeking “personal, family and social recognition through participation in a remunerated activity”.

The picture in eastern Europe appears to be similar. Income needs, rising living standards and aspirations of their families are causing growing num- bers of farm women in Yugoslavia to seek off farm employment. Earning a personal income gives the woman more self respect and a more equitable position in the family, as well as satisfying “a need to make contact with other women and with people in general and to share their experiences with them” (Rupcna-Osolnik, 1983). In Poland, too, the principle reason for farm women to pursue other occupations is to raise family income “and, in the case of women who had education and qualifications, the need for self-realization, acquiring their own status and their own money, satis-

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fying of interests, and using of acquired skills” (Tryfan, 1983). Access to state social security is an important motive in countries like

Poland and Yugoslavia, where such benefits are more readily available to workers in the socialiscd sector than to private farmers. In a survey of eight communes in Slovenia, for example, 83 pcr cent of farm women who had other jobs valued a regular and reliable income and 5 5 pcr cent, the associa- ted rights to health insurance and pensions (Barbic et al., 1983).

OBSTACLES TO WOMEN’S OFF FARM EMPLOYMENT

Living in a rural area may deter women from seeking other employment. Greater distances mean longer journeys to work and also add to the time required for running the home. Less adequate social services in rural areas (for example fewer nursery schools) imply a double disadvantage, making it harder for the woman to leave the home and also removing a fruitful source of female employment. Rural Britain has significantly lower female activity rates than do urban and suburban areas (Moseley & Darby, 1978) and in the United States, farm wives living near metropolitan areas are more likely to be employed than those in more rural areas (Sweet, 1972).

Employment prospects for farm women in a denscly populated coun- try like Britain are good compared with countries like Finland, where long distances and sparsely inhabited areas discourage many wives from seeking off farm employment. There the proportion of farm wives with off farm jobs ranged from 16 pcr cent in Western Finland and 17 per cent in Ostro- bothnia, where employment is more readily available, to only 4 per cent in in Northern Finland (Siiskonen, Parviainen & Kappa, 1982). Arctic win- ters make long distance commuting very unattractive for farm women in parts of Sweden, too (Andersson, 1983).

Bcing a farmer’s wife may carry the expectation that the woman will always be on hand to perform the numerous small tasks, usually underval- ued, unappreciated and taken for granted, which contribute to a smooth running business. Answering the telephone, seeing callers, running errands, rounding up straying livestock and administering first aid are among the jobs which British farmers’ wives are expected to do a t a moment’s notice, “regardless of what is in the oven”. Yet these tasks scar- cely amount to a career. As Symes and Marsden (1983) concluded from their study of farmers’ wives in the arable farming area of Nor th Humber- side, “Her mere presence on the farm may be more important than any regular tasks she has to perform; and her functions are in many cases latent rather than actual”. Or, as one respondent in the Fanners Week4 survey put it, “Farmers’ wives have fewer career opportunities because their husbands expect them to be constantly available in case of emergencies”.

This “need” for the farmer’s wife to be on call merges with the traditio- nal attitude that middle class women do not need to go out to work becau-

222

se their husbands provide an adequatc income. This attitude lingers on in thc farming community, notably in parts of Britain charactcriscd by large arable farms employing labour. A Scottish contributor to the Fanners Weekly survey, for instance, believed that “a farmer needs a wife a t home to help. I would not like any of my four sons to embark on farming with a wife who pursued a scparatc carer’’. This attitude is not peculiar to Bri- tain, for a study in West Germany indicated the strength of oppositon to farmers’ wives working, from husbands, children, the older generation and local society (FAO/ECA, 1983). Yet there arc signs of change, for another Famn Wee& respondent obscrved that “Women are far more emancipa- ted today, and many are able to combine a career with farming. In this area (of Scotland) the farmer’s wife’s image is changing. They go out to work at their own professions’’.

Farms in western Europe are mostly run by families; in England and Wales, for instance, only about one farm in four employs any non-family labour on a permanent basis. Certain characteristics of family farming may cause wives to seek othcr employment. At times in the family cycle when the labour supplied by family members exceeds the demands of the farm, wife or husband may x c k off farm work. Having the farmer’s parents on the farm may also put pressure on the young farmer’s wife to continue with a non-farming career. In cases where mother-in-law exerts a powerful influence due to her seniority, greater experience, control of the finances and control over her son, the young wife may need the degree of financial independence, status and self confidcnce which a non-farm occupation can bring.

To summarise, while farm women may experience needs for employ- ment much as other women do, their ability to rcspond to those needs may be coloured by their particular circumstances and thc situation of the farm. While financial needs may be greater than in many non-farming families, the convenience of having the wife at home, social sanctions against wives working and access to suitable employment may conspire to prevcnr the woman pursuing a career of her own. Another factor to be considcred is the cmployment of the husband.

WHICH SPOUSE WORKS?

Although large numbers of women work off the farm, farmers are still more likely to be in some form of non-farm employment. The figures in Table 2 suggest that, in the countries or regions studied, farmers are more than twice as likely as their spouses to have off farm jobs.

The question of which spouse works off the farm will dcpend on a num- ber of factors including competing domestic claims on the woman’s time, the ability of either spouse to cope with farming on their own, what other work is available and how well paid it is, and the relative qualifications, experience and preferences of husband and wife.

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TABLE 2. Exten! of othzraainful em&Lqment of fannrn and wiws in stkcttd cormfries or refions

Country Other occupation reported for (pcrccnt) Farmcr Spoux Both Ncirhcr All

only only spouses farms

England/Wala 18.0 4.8 3.2 72.0 100.0 Fin land 2s 5 10 60 100 Norway 23.9 3.0 13.8 59.3 100.0 Unired Stares 26 1 3 18 44 l O l * Y ugodavia 25.9 6.0 9.3 58.8 100.0

Sourccs: England and Wales: MAFF privatc communication; national wmplc. Finland: Siiskoncn (1983); survey of 776 families. Norway: Hcrland (1983); survcy of 19 communes. United State: J o n a and Roxnfeld (1981); national wmplc. Yugoslavia: Barbic ct al. (1983); survcy of 8 communes in Slovenia.

Figures add up to 101 duc to rounding.

Rural based industries like farming, forestry and fishing, mining and quarrying, construction and transport, tend to employ men. Jobs more suitable for women, typically in professions and service industries, are likely to be more plentiful in and near towns.

Farmers in Britain tend to marry women who have more formal qualifi- cations, training and non-farm work experience than themselves. This is readily understood since entry to the farming occupation is largely ascribed whereas entry to occupations of comparable status, for instance the lower echelons of professions or middle management, is achieved and therefore depends upon qualifications. A study of wives on large farms in southern England revealed that 69 pcr cent of them had had formal training after leaving school and 78 per cent had worked before marriage (Buchanan, Errington & Giles, 1982). In a survey of multiple job farm families in Eng- land and Wales, it was found that 46.1 pcr cent of wives but only 32.4 per cent of farmers with off farm jobs, held relevant qualifications (Gasson, 1983).

Similar tendencies have been observed in Finland (Siiskonen et al.,1982), in the United States (Jones & Roscnfcld, 1981) and in Australia (McAllis- ter, 1981) where farming is also regarded as a high status occupation. It may not be so in parts of continental Europe where the pcasant farming tradition is stronger. In the Slovenian study, for example, rural women were found to have lower levels of education, on average, than rural men (Barbic et al., 1983). The FAO/ECA report concluded that “farmers’ wives, unqualified in the agricultural sector, are men less qualified to take a job outside. More often than not, they are poorly skilled or completely unskilled wage earners”.

2 24

Thcse tendencies may counteract one another. Except in areas close to towns, more employment opportunities are likely to bc available to men, although women may bc better placed to take up any higher paid white collar jobs. For thc United States, Jones and Rosenfeld concluded that womcn havc bcttcr opportunities to find jobs but men can usually find jobs that pay better. In Europe, the outcome is likely to be mcn rather than women working off the farm.

INFLUENCES ON WOMEN’S OFF FARM EMPLOYMENT

Off farm employment of womcn can be seen as resulting from two quite separate influences; economic necessity and personal prcference. O n small and low income farms, one or often both spouses is obliged to scek other work in order to make ends m e t . Thc larger the farm, the less likely it is that either spouse will need to work for financial reasons. Cutting across farm size, there are women for whom a paid job means status, recognition and personal fulfilment. In thc broadest terms, there are farm womcn who havc to work off thc farm though they may not choose to and those who choose to work off the farm though they may not have to. Von Schweitzer (1983) has made this distinction clear:

“In contrast to the pluri-activity of women who bclong to rhc poorest in the world, there are the pluriactivc women mostly in the modern industrialised countries, or in thc upper classcs of undcrdcvclopcd countries or newly industrialid countries who, with a qualified professional education pursue one or xvcral gainful activities, bccausc they love their profession and x c in these activities chances for more welfa- re and a grarer sclf rcaliwtion, or quire simply bccaux they are nccdcd by the society ”

Women in the formcr category may be identified ve’y broadly with tho- se on small or low income farms, the latter with wives on large farms in developed or developing countries who choose to pursue professional or business careers. Errington (1980) has predicted an increasing gulf between these two types of role for English farmers’ wives. O n one hand, wives on small farms arc required to take a growing share in farm work. O n the other, wives on large farms are becoming progressively lpss involved in the day-to-day running of thc farm business and perhaps are more likely to take up employment opportunitics off the farm.

Data from England and Wales show that as farm size increases, the probability of both spouses having off farm jobs declines very steeply and so does the likelihood that the farmer alone will work off the farm. The possibility of the wife alone having another activity is much less influenced by thc size of the farm. As Butte1 (1982) has observed for the United Sta- tes, “thc substantial inverse relationship between farm size and off farm labour market participation by male farm operators does not hold with regard to farm women”. Conscqucntly, among larger farms it is more com- . . .. . . .

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mon to tind that only the wife has an off farm job. In England and Wales, holdings where the spouse alone has another gainful activity amount to one in seven of all multiple job holdings below 5 0 0 standard man days but one in three above this size. Similarly in Wisconsin, the wife was the only dual job holder on 2.2 per cent of part time farms below 100 acres but 19 per cent of those above 200 acres (Kada, 1980).

Leaving aside the influence of farm size, off farm employment as an expression of personal choice is associated particularly with young farm wives, from non-agricultural backgrounds, who hold qualifications and have previous experience of non-farm occupations. Typically these occupa- tions are teaching and nursing, with clerical and technical jobs, communi- cations and administration some way behind (Andersson, 1983; Gasson, 1983; Jones & Rosenfeld, 1981). In Sweden, the information and educatio- nal level of women was found to be the strongest predictor of off farm employment, stronger than age, farm size or size of household (Andersson, 1983). In Norway, one study showed that 50’per cent of wives working off the farm had had some kind of vocational training whereas for wives who- se husbands alone worked off the farm, the proportion was only 15 per cent (Hetland, 1983). For the United States, the situation appears to be more complex. Sweet (1972) discovered that college educated farm wives had employment rates considerably above those of urban college educated women but among those without college education, farm wives were leu likely than urban wives to be in the paid labour force.

FUTURE TRENDS

The demand for off farm employment among farm women of Europe is likely to increase, for a number of reasons. Farm incomes are coming under increasing pressure, notably within the Economic Community where the Common Agricultural Policy is approaching financial crisis. This suggests more farmers’ wives will be looking for other work to satisfy financial needs. Second, a growing tendency for farmers to marry women from non- farming backgrounds with careers of their own, which they may wish to continue after marriage, has been noted in a number of European countries including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland (FAO/ECA, 1983). Third, women’s need for the social contact, financial independence and recognition which go with a paid job and their search for self identity and personal fulfilment through a career, are likely to become more insistent as time goes on, bccaux the working wife is becoming the norm in European society.

While the demand for jobs for women may continue to increase, the suPprr is likely to remain static or even decrease. The O E C D has recently forecast that unemployment in western Europe will increase by a further 2 million to 20 million within the next few years.

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A very different future is forecast for the United States, where jobs are being created much more rapidly than in Europe. Butte1 (1982) suggests that farm and rural women are a particularly attractive labour force for industrial and commercial firms wishing to relocate from the high wage, unionised environment of established metropolitan areas, for he claims that farm women will accept low wages and not join unions. Hence, “Given signs of a continued process of industrial-commercial deconcentration, the role of female off farm employment is likely to become increasingly impor- tant in the structure of part-time farming”.

REFERENCES

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION/EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE (1983). Rqort of tbe Ttcbnicd Comultation on Women in Rural Plurj,rtivity. (Ljublj- ana, Yugoslavia, June 1983)

Individual papers prepared for the Technical Consultation by:

BARRIC, A,, HORN. 2.. KLADNIK, D., KOVACIC, M., KULOVEC, M.. RUPENA-OSOLNIK. and M. SUNCK. Women pluri-active outside the farm in the Socialist Republic of Slovcnia. Yugoslavia

with pluri-acitvity

possibilities in Finland

SCHWEITZER. R. VON, Economic and social analysis of the role of the women intcrrclarcd

SIISKONEN. P. Women phi-act ive on and outside the farm: generality, cxpericnccs and

THODEN, S., Technical consultation on women in rural pluriactivitics TRYFAN, B.. Social dctcrminants and conscqucnccs of pluri-activity of counrrywomcn in

Poland

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BUCHANAN, W.I . , A.J. ERRINGTON B A.K. GILES (198Z), Tbe Fannrr’i WYe: Her Role in the Managment of tbe &tJfncJJ (University of Reading, Farm Managcmcnt Unit) Stu- dy No. 2

BRITTON, D.K. (1979). Age-structure of farmers in thc UK, 1975 (private communication) BU~TEL. F.H. (1982). The political economy of part-time farming. GeoJoumd6 (4), 293-300 CRAPS, R. (1977). Problems of integrating policies, in R. GASSON, ed., 16-20 ERRINGTON. A.J. (1983). The farmer’s wife: her role in the farm businas. in R.B. TRAN-

n . R , cd. 223-228 FRANK, W. (1983). Pan time farming, underemployment and double activity of farmers in

the EEC, Soriologia RUT&, XXIll ( I ) , 20-27 GA.WN, R. cd. (1977), T k P k e of Part Time Fanning in Rural and Regional Dcwbpment

(Wyc College. Ashford: Centre for European Agriculturd Studies) GASON. R. (1983). Gainjul Occupatim of Fann FarnilieJ (Wyc Collegc, Ashford: School of

Rural Economics) JONES. C. & R.A. ROSENFELD (1981), A m c a n Fawn Women: ~indingrfmm a National Sur-

~y (Chicago: National Opinion Research C a t e r ) N O R C Rcport No. 130 KADA, R. (1980). Part-Time Family Fanning (Tokyo: Ccnrcr for Academic Publications

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MASLOW, A.H. (1954). Motivation and Personality (New York: Harpcr & Bros) MOSELEY, M.J. dr J. DARBY (1978). Thc dctcrminants of fcmalc activity rates in rural areas:

an analysis of Norfolk parishes, Regional Studres, 12, 297-309 RUPENA.~SOLNIK, M. (1983), Thc rolc of farm women in rural pluriactivity: experience

from Yugoslavia. Soriofogia RuraliJ, XXIII ( l ) , 89-94 SIISKONEN. P., A. PARVIAINEN dr T. KOPPA (1982). Women in Agriculture. A Study of Equu-

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sity of Reading, Centre for Agricultural Strategy) CAS Papcr 15.

ABSTRACT

Thc working wife is becoming the norm in European society. For somc, thc nced to find work outside thc home is purely an economic one but for many women, it is suggested that paid cmploymcnt also answers necds for company, recognition and status and enhances thc woman’s xnsc of indcpcndcnce and sclf worth. Farmers’ wivcs arc pan of society and thcre- forc cxpoxd to its norms and sanctions. This paper argues that farm women will expericncc thc same needs as other women for earnings, financial indcpcndencc, association with others, status and sclf fulfilmcnt but that rcmotcness, lack of suitable work for women in rural arcas, necds of the farm business and sanctions against farmers’ wives working else- whcrc may dctcr thcm. Thc balancc of motives may change from predominantly financial on small farms to predominantly social and pcrsonal on large farms. A rcvicw of the lirera- ture on off farm cmploymcnt of farm womcn offers some support for thcsc hypothcses.

RESUME Lc travail de la fcmmc tend, cn Europe, 1 dcvcnir unc normc socialc. C a t c cxigcncc de travail hors du foyer n’a, pour certains, qu’unc signification Cconomique, mais, pour bcaucoup dc fcmmcs, il s’agit d’un besoin dc sociabilirt, de reconnaissancc socialc, d’indi- pcndance ct d’atimc dc mi. Les tpouscs d’agriculrcurs sont Cgalcmcnt soumises i ccttc nor- mc. Ccs fcmma du milicu agricolc parragcnt en effct Ics memcs disirs dc rimunirarion, d’indipcndancc matiricllc, dc rclations sociales ct d’accomplisscmcnt, mais Ie sous-dhelop pcmcnt iconomiquc ct la carcncc d’cmplois adapt& dans Ics rCgions rurala, les cxigcnca dc I’cxploitation ct la riprobation i I’Cgard dcs fcmmcs qui ont un travail hors dc la fcrme peuvcnt Ics dicoungcr. L‘autcur poursuit en montrant quc Ics motivations sont davantagc Cconomiqucs dans lcs exploitations pctites ct davanragc sociales ou pcrsonncllcs dans Ics gnndcs. Enfin unc lccturc critique dc la IitrCrature consacrk au travail non agricolc dcs fcmma d’agricultcurs permct de confortcr ces hyporhks .

KURZFASSUNG

Dic crwcrbstatigc Ehcfrau wird in curopaischcn Gcscllschaftcn zur Norm. Fur cinigc ist das Bcdiirfnis nach aubcrhauslichcr Arbcir rein okonomischcr Natur, fur viclc jcdoch, SO wird vcrmutct, isr dic Erwcrbstatigkcit durch das Bcdurfnis nach Gcsclligkcit, Ancrkcnnung und eincm cigcncn Status bcstimmt und vcrstarkt das Unabhangigkcitsgcfiihl und Sclbstwcrtgc- fiihl dcr Fnu. Frauen von Landwinen untcrlicgcn als Mitglicdcr dcr Gesellxhafr dcrcn

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Normcn und Sankrioncn. In dicscm Bcitng wird angcnommcn, d a p Fnucn von Landwir- tcn diesclbcn Ekdiirfnisx nach cigcncm Vcrdicnst, finanzicllcr Unabhangigkcit und Zusam- mcnscin mir mdcrcn. cigcncm Status und Sclbstvcrwirklichung cnrwickcln wcrdcn, wic andcrc Fraucn, abcr daB Abgclcgcnhcir, Mange1 an gccignctcn Arbcitsplatzcn fur Fnucn in hndlichcn Raumcn. Anfordcrungcn dcs landwinschaftlichcn Ektricbes und Sanktioncn gcgcnubcr landwirtschaftlichcn Ehcfnucn, die au&rbetricblich arbcircn gchcn. sic davon abhaltcn wcrdcn. Das Gcwicht dcr Morivc vcrlagcn sich wahrschcinlich von vorhcrrschcnd finanricllcn bci klcinbaucrlichcn Betriebcn zu vorhcrrschcnd sozialcn und pcrsijnlichcn bei Gro/kricbcn. Durch cine Auswcnung dcr Litcratur iibcr au/3crbctricblichc Erwcrbstatig kcit von Landwirtsfraucn wcrdcn dicsc Hypothcscn untcrsrutzt.