Female Perspectives in Agriculture: A Framework for Gender-Transformative Change in Austria, Switzerland and California

Women play a manifold role in agriculture worldwide. In the context of just and sustainable climate change adaptation, support and impact of female farmers will be essential as they gain more reach in the agricultural landscape. Still, female farmers are underrepresented in political strategies and research. Gender neutral and agricultural research have widely ignored the capacity of female farmers for climate change adaptation. In tackling climate change adaptation, the integration of feminist research is essential. Studies on women’s empowerment in agriculture often are associated with low-income and lower-middle income countries. When it comes to literature on the gender-agriculture nexus, European and North American regions are underrepresented. Therefore, our aim is to develop a gender transformative framework for agriculture (GTFA) in said areas. Empirical evidence derived from 44 semi-structured interviews with female farmers from case studies in mountainous regions in Austria, Switzerland and California illustrates specific processual factors influencing gender-transformative change in agriculture. This work results in a GTFA for European and North American contexts. The main influencing factors for gender-transformation according to the GTFA are positive role-models, gender-aware policies, agricultural education, self-efficacy and facilitation for female farmers as well as the awareness and support of male farmers in agricultural communities when implementing strategies for modern gender norms.