A-02/98 The gendering of farming. The case of Norway.

The European Journal of Women`s Studies, Vol. 5, No 2, 1998. Based on a study among women farmers, a typology of different work identities is presented. It is an illustration of how changing structures create different opportunities for farm women, and how women's social practice might reproduce or change the gendered structure itself. Women's increased options to plan their own lives have resulted in new approaches to farming, illustrated by younger women who have constructed a modern work identity as professional farmers. There is stronger emphasis on agency among younger women, which is in line with the ideology of gender equality and individual freedom to create one's own lifestyle. While many of the older women explain their position as farmers as a result of circumstances beyond their control, younger women are more likely to explain their position as a rsult of individual choices and preferences.