More diversity for agriculture  [27.03.24]

Women are often forced into outdated roles on farms. Queer people are almost invisible. Lucia Parbel believes this needs to change. In her Bachelor's thesis, she researched the causes and spoke to young people at the start of their careers. An interview.

 

Lucia, you dealt intensively with this topic in your Bachelor's thesis, what would you say: how diverse is agriculture?

It depends on how you look at it. Of course there is diversity in agriculture - as in almost all areas of society. But it is currently not very visible. And there are structures that systematically disadvantage women and queer people.

In fact, around 90% of farms in Germany are run by men. Of course, women contribute a great deal to farms. However, they almost always work in subordinate positions and are forced into outdated gender roles.

Queer people in agriculture are practically non-existent in public perception. But they exist too!

Through online networks and Telegram groups, I was able to get to know some people throughout Germany and also win them over as interview partners for my bachelor's thesis. They talk about how difficult it is for them to be open about their queer identity in their professional environment.

Something has to change here urgently. It shouldn't matter which people I love or with which gender I identify. If we want to make our agriculture sustainable and fit for the future, then we need to talk about this social dimension as well as topics such as ecology and animal welfare.

How did you come up with the topic of your Bachelor's thesis and how exactly did you work on it?

The interest developed from my own biographical experiences. In the "Global Agri-Food Systems" module, I then took a closer look for the first time at how this problem can be investigated empirically.

First I tried to get an overview of the literature. However, this was quite sobering. As far as Germany is concerned, there was almost no current data available at the time.

There had actually been a lot of exciting work on patriarchal structures in agriculture since the 1950s and 1960s, including here at the University of Hohenheim. But what was missing were large-scale, systematic studies and therefore hard figures - until last year.

In 2023, researchers from the University of Göttingen and the Thünen Institute were able to publish a comprehensive study on the situation of women in agriculture, which shed light on many of the questions I had when writing my term paper.

Although it was still so difficult to obtain data at the time, my lecturer encouraged me to stick with the topic. And so, in my bachelor's thesis, I conducted 5 guided interviews with people who are currently undergoing state training as gardeners or farmers or have already completed this training.

I analyzed the transcripts using empirical social research methods and examined them for recurring patterns using qualitative data analysis software.

What patterns did you come across?

All interviewees reported experiences of sexism during their training, both at vocational school and at their training workplace. A varying degree of anti-queer sentiment also runs as a common thread through the interviews.

Female trainees reported, for example, that they were denied certain training content, such as driving tractors or operating large machines, because these activities were supposedly "men's work".

Several of them were largely restricted to areas that were considered "women's work" by the trainers: e.g. the calf barn.  

One female interviewee summed it up as follows: "The machines I was able to operate in the end were the milking system and the mower." I personally find that really frightening, because the interviewee suffered very real disadvantages in her future career as a result.

I was also shocked by recurring descriptions of the group dynamics in vocational school classes, which were characterized by toxic male behavior and could take on hostile or threatening traits: Porn trivializing sexualized violence was shared while jeering in the schoolyard. Anti-queer slogans were the order of the day. Along the lines of: "That doesn't happen here!". I was also told about cases of bullying.

Do you think such problems are particularly pronounced in the agricultural sector?

Of course, sexism and queerphobia are general social problems. But depending on the environment, they can manifest themselves to varying degrees. And in the case of agriculture, there is definitely a need for action. But this certainly also applies to other areas, which I have not investigated.

Under no circumstances do I want to use the narrative that agriculture is a particularly backward sector. That is nonsense and doesn't get us any further. Instead, the aim is to gain a better understanding of the specific factors that contribute to the problems and what possible starting points could be to improve the situation. This is exactly what I wanted to contribute to with my work.

Can you give specific examples of this?

Most of the interview partners completed their training on a traditional, rural family farm. In such an environment, traditional gender roles are particularly persistent. For example, in many places it was an unwritten law that women were responsible for the kitchen and cooking.

However, one female interviewee reported that these tasks were taken in turns by everyone - including male colleagues. In the trainees' perception, this contributed enormously to a good atmosphere. She felt comfortable at her training location and was much less shy than other interviewees about openly addressing problems and getting involved as a person.

Another special feature of agricultural training is that the farms are often quite isolated and there is very little interaction with other trainees during training.

What effect does that have?

If you have problems at the training facility, you can't easily share these experiences with others and therefore hardly get any support from your own peer group. This can create a feeling of being at the mercy of others. As a result, you tend to accept inappropriate treatment instead of fighting back.

Social networks, such as those I found during my research, can fill this gap to a certain extent. However, it would be extremely important to create more opportunities for trainees to exchange ideas, even within the framework of regular training.

Above all, however, trainers and vocational school teachers should be better sensitized to the problem. I therefore believe that the topic should also be part of the curriculum at the University of Hohenheim. After all, many of those who study agricultural science here will one day have trainees themselves.

The topic should also be given more attention in empirical social research. Targeted measures can only be taken if the existing data gap is reduced.

We will report back. Thank you very much for these insights into your work!

Interview: Leonhardmair