Farm tourism in Spain: a gender perspective

Abstract

This article reviews the main objectives and theoretical framework of a research project on farm tourism in Spain that uses a gender perspective. The project considers the need for research on women and farm tourism and why it is essential to adopt a gender perspective in these studies. In addition to reviewing the main objectives of the research, this article outlines some aspects of the methodological and theoretical framework. The article ends with some preliminary results and conclusions. This research is still in a relatively early phase. Therefore, it is not possible to present more details of the findings at this stage. Our aim is to identify the main characteristics and problems of farm tourism in the context of rural restructuring in five Spanish rural areas. We focus on the experiences of women involved in these activities and analyse the services offered by farm tourism enterprises. One of the main aims is to ascertain why and how agrarian family units decide to engage in the tourism business; in that context, we examine their decisions on the range and type of services to provide. One way to look at these issues is to consider the interactions and relations, in terms of labour and income, between the agrarian activity and the farm tourism activity. Specifically, we examine how the lives of different family members have changed since the engagement with tourism. There is a need for more knowledge about whether family needs and objectives have remained constant or have changed. That insight is especially important in relation to the future of the agrarian units, as it affects the household's perception of agrarian and rural ways of life.