"Un homme doit prendre femme pour être paysan !" De la dualité de la paysanne

Abstract

"A Man Needs a Wife to Run a Farm!" About the Duality of Farm Women. Family farms are the base of Swiss agriculture. They are operated by the farmer and his wife who are the farm's labour force. Nevertheless, in the Swiss statistics, farm women are, for the most part, absent. Only the responsibilities of the farmer as the farm manager are reflected on, farm women are considered housekeepers rather than professional farm workers. In reality, farm women do contribute a lot to the operation of the small-and middle-sized farms. If agricultural production requires, farm women have to be available at any time to participate in or take over responsibility for any kind of farm work. The new Swiss agricultural policy (Agriculture 2002) demands production diversification and complementary activities in Swiss agriculture. However, this also means new and different qualifications as well as a challenge for family farms in particular. And with that the role of farm women in the agricultural production process has to be reconsidered. Gender studies enable us to approach this new and challenging situation for farm women but also for family farms from different perspectives.