“We Cooperate with Husbands!” Patriarchy and Bargaining among Farm Women in Taiwan

Abstract

This paper incorporates economic conceptualisation of intra-household resource allocation while viewing interpersonal processes from social-psychological and anthropological perspectives to explore the process of marital bargaining in farm-related decision-making. The data—collected through a survey of 303 married Taiwanese women who grew vegetables—revealed that more than half of the women disagreed and tried to bargain with their husbands about farm resources and operations. Gender-role attitudes, the presence of other family labor, perceptions of self-competence, and the survival of the family are important elements that influence the working of marital power. These women, however, tended to play a passive role in initiating and conducting communication, as well as in finding solutions through compromise. The findings suggest that the home economics model is insufficient to explain Taiwanese women's subordination in on-farm negotiation and that it is necessary to recognize internal conflicts and diverse negotiation processes is necessary.