Farm women in Slovenia.

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter considers the position of farm women in Slovenia, following the political, economic and social transformations that have occurred over the 1990s. The diminishing involvement of women in Slovenian agriculture is highlighted. The chapter positions this within the modernization and changing nature of Slovenian agriculture, but also links changes with farm women's choices and strategies of resistance. Some women are choosing off-farm employment in an attempt to establish greater independence within the farm family, and others are encouraging their daughters to leave the farm. The chapter also presents a gender-based comparison of Slovenian farms with those in the previous EU-15 and the new member countries. This analysis shows that Slovenia has the highest percentage of women in the agricultural population in the new EU-25. However, the potential of the women to contribute to agricultural development is in may respects less favourable than it is in other considered countries. That is, the great majority of women in Slovenia who own and manage their farms are old, probably already widowed, with poor general and agricultural education, and own small farm estates with mixed, low productive output.