Cover image for Gendered fields : rural women, agriculture, and environment
Title:
Gendered fields : rural women, agriculture, and environment
Personal Author:
Series:
Rural studies series

Rural studies series of the rural sociological society
Publication Information:
Boulder, Colo : Westview Press, 1996
ISBN:
9780813325194

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30000003932831 HQ1240 S23 1996 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Applying a feminist and environmentalist approach to her investigation of how the changing global economy affects rural women, Carolyn Sachs focuses on land ownership and use, cropping systems, and women's work with animals in highly industrialized as well as developing countries.Viewing rural women's daily lives in a variety of circumstances, Sachs analyzes the rich multiplicity of their experiences in terms of their gender, class, and race. Drawing on historical and contemporary research, rural women's writings, and in-depth interviews, she shows how environmental degradation results from economic and development practices that disadvantage rural women. In addition, she explores the strategies women use for resistance and survival in the face of these trends.Offering a range of examples from different countries, Gendered Fields will appeal to readers interested in commonalities and differences in women's knowledge of and interactions with the natural environment.


Author Notes

Carolyn E. Sachs is associate professor of rural sociology and women's studies at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Invisible Farmers: Women in Agricultural Production (Westview).


Reviews 1

Choice Review

Sachs' work is a superb review of material about contemporary women working in agriculture across the globe. Three chapters cover the theoretical and historical background of women in relation to the land. They discuss the feminist approach, and the complexity and impossibility of generalizing across race, nationality, ethnicity, and sexual preference. Specific chapters treat women's connectedness to the land, plants, and animals. A special chapter is devoted to the roles of women on family farms in the US, Africa, and Latin America. A final discussion places women in the context of current global processes of agricultural restructuring. Each chapter is replete with national or cultural-specific references to past research. Sachs, author of Invisible Farmers: Women in Agricultural Production (CH, Dec'83), is a rural sociologist who has done research in this area for more than 15 years. Gendered Fields brings together the findings of her research with those of other feminist and rural researchers in England, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. It contains an excellent integration of primary and secondary data, with more than 260 citations to relevant work. Essential for those who seek an understanding of the significance of gender in rural society. All levels. D. P. Slesinger University of Wisconsin--Madison


Table of Contents

Rural Studies Series of the Rural Sociological Societyp. ii
Rural Studies Seriesp. iii
Acknowledgmentsp. xiii
1 Situating Rural Women in Theory and Practicep. 1
2 Feminist Theory and Rural Womenp. 11
3 Rural Women and Naturep. 29
4 Rural Women's Connections to the Landp. 45
5 Women's Work with Plantsp. 67
6 Women's Work with Animalsp. 103
7 Women on Family Farms: A Reappraisalp. 123
8 Global Restructuring, Local Outcomes, and the Reshaping of Rural Women's Workp. 141
9 Conclusionp. 177
Referencesp. 181
About the Book and Authorp. 195
Indexp. 197