Robert Smith
I am have eclectic research interests in the fields of entrepreneurship, leadership and criminology. These can broadly be unified under the rubric of applications and settings of entrepreneurship.
Phone: 01224 361381
Address: Dr Robert Smith, M.A, PhD
Independent Scholar
Aberdeen
Phone: 01224 361381
Address: Dr Robert Smith, M.A, PhD
Independent Scholar
Aberdeen
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Papers by Robert Smith
Topic: Farming is a heavily gendered environment. In this review we introduce, theorise and discuss 'farm women' as an under researched social status group and resource, identifying emergent research themes. The term farm women include 'women farmers', 'farmers wives' and 'farm women' 'farmers' mothers and daughters' and the 'wives and daughters of farm workers' but also 'migrant workers' whom are under-represented in the literature. Increasingly, women make up a considerable proportion of agricultural students and the land-based workforce. Such women and particularly women farmers have a marginalised voice in existing formal discourse. Indeed, little is written about women farmers in either the rural entrepreneurship literature or the entrepreneurship and gender literature with the limited exception of asking questions and attempting to answer questions about the role of household and off farm work. There are studies in the agricultural literature but there is an identifiable research gap relating to what they do and how they do it and more importantly their official status. Historically farm women in the wider context often received limited or no formal management skill or training or an agricultural education, but this is changing. Consequentially, this educational transition is of interest within the wider context of women being considered as an under recognised and under-valued resource in rural businesses worthy of further research. Aim: The overall aim of this review is to interrogate the extant literature to develop a more nuanced understanding of the sectors in which such farm women work and to explore why they have such a marginalised profile and voice in formal discourse. The key aims are to understand why women farmers are under-represented in official statistics; explore and provide a more nuanced understanding of women farmers and their roles; identify the specific structural and social barriers that may be associated with, or inhibit, the enterprise development of women farmers; and to explore other gendered roles in general. Methodology: This review utilises a Systematic Review Methodology to identify key academic studies relating to the roles of women in farming and to synthesise studies from a diverse range of literatures to provide an overview. Its purpose is to identify what is known and to identify research gaps and to develop a clearer conceptual understanding of the topic. To provide a genuine overview documentary research methodology is also employed to evidence the protean nature of available material on 'Women Farmers' not presented in the academic literature. The review develops critical questions about woman farmers, farmers wives and farm women in general to inform future empirical work. We restrict the geographic element of the review to a UK context to explore the numbers of women farmers and the sectors in which they operate. We seek to identify "typical" experiences of the barriers facing women farmers and to establish if women provide the entrepreneurial energy to create localised change. Contribution: There is a substantial but under-appreciated literature about women in farming spread across a diverse range of literature. Much of the literature is dated but relevant. The literature generally mirrors the findings of the female entrepreneurship literature relating to the marginalisation and invisibility of the women farmer, farmers wives and the wider population of farm women, farmers' daughters and mothers, the wives of farm workers or itinerant migrant 2 workers. In particular, there are obvious gender-based barriers to women in farming and land-based industries relating to structural and social pathways into farming. Women are still seen in the literature as an unpaid resource or as companions to their men. Yet, an alternative stream suggests that women farmers are generally more entrepreneurial than men and contemporary data from the grey literature suggests they are an emergent force in the sector. Practical implications: This review explores the extant literature on women in farming to identify research streams and themes to inform future empirical studies to explore why women are under-represented in the contemporary literature and whether women's enterprise skills in the farming context are perhaps more nuanced than their masculine counterparts. This review contributes by providing a base from which to begin separating rhetoric from reality to generate a list of critical questions to guide future research. The paper is part of a larger study.