Counting them in, not out: Surveying farm women about agricultural leadership
Counting them in, not out: Surveying farm women about agricultural leadership Journal Article
Australian Geographical Studies
- Author(s): Pini, B.
- Published: 2004
- Volume: 42
Abstract: This paper examines the efficacy of the survey method to investigate questions relating to women and agricultural leadership. I begin by reviewing the feminist critique of the survey using examples from the literature on farming women. I then describe two particular difficulties I encountered in surveying farm women about agricultural leadership in the Australian sugar industry. The first difficulty is the problem of constructing a sample of farm women using official data sources that is representative of the diversity of women in agriculture. The second difficulty is the impact that gendered agricultural identities may have on survey completion rates. The paper argues that, if we are to count farming women `in', rather than `out' when studying agricultural politics, we need to engage with methods which will be inclusive of the diversity of women in farming and which will also give consideration to the construction of gendered identities in agriculture.