Is agriculture an occupation or a sector? Gender inequalities in a European context

Abstract

This article focuses on inequalities in agriculture in the European Union. We examine the mismatch between European legislation on employment and any rigorous interrogation of women's employment position in agriculture. Our central argument is that this occurs because agriculture is seen as a sector rather than an occupation. DG AGRI is responsible for European agricultural and rural development policies. DG EMPLOYMENT does not have oversight for the agricultural workforce in the same way as other occupations as the existence of DG AGRI means farming is less obviously understood as an occupation. There are no similar measures to address the under‐representation of women in agriculture in the same way as for science, technology, engineering and mathematics occupations. We demonstrate that when agricultural policies are seen as relating to an occupation rather than a sector, it becomes clearer how agricultural policy discriminates against women.

Power and culture: Understanding EU policies on agriculture and gender equality

“…Since 1996, the European Commission has adopted the dual approach of targeted measures to achieve gender equality alongside gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming basically means including a gender perspective into all stages of policy design in all EU policies (European Commission, 2020;Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022;Daly, 2005). Extensive research and reports from EU institutions have systematically found that the EU institutions themselves, as well as Member States, do not implement gender mainstreaming (ECA, 2020(ECA, , 2021EPRS, 2021;Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022;Spehar, 2012).…”

“…Gender mainstreaming basically means including a gender perspective into all stages of policy design in all EU policies (European Commission, 2020;Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022;Daly, 2005). Extensive research and reports from EU institutions have systematically found that the EU institutions themselves, as well as Member States, do not implement gender mainstreaming (ECA, 2020(ECA, , 2021EPRS, 2021;Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022;Spehar, 2012). In other words, there is a weak commitment to addressing gender equality, and consequently, the tools and processes advocated at the EU level are not enacted.…”

“…Gender mainstreaming is, in theory, seen as the most effective way to address gender inequality. It takes the focus away from deficiencies in women and instead focuses on inbuilt assumptions that perpetuate gendered inequalities (Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022; Daly, 2005). An example here is parental leave in Ireland; women are entitled to 26‐week leave, and men are entitled to 2‐week leave.…”

“…This is an example of how a policy with inbuilt assumptions can perpetuate gender inequality. Since the early 2000s, European researchers have examined how effectively EU rural development policies have addressed gender mainstreaming (Bock, 2015; Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022; Safilios‐Rothschild, 2006; Rossier & Wyss, 2008; Oedl‐Wieser, 2015; Prügl, 2010). There was a stated commitment in the Rural Development Regulations 2000–2006 and 2007–2014 to gender equality.…”

“…Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development have at best paid lip service to gender mainstreaming. There was no effective training on how to gender mainstream and gender budget, and if gender impact assessments were undertaken, they were at best ‘tick box’ exercises (Shortall & Marangudakis, 2022; Bock, 2006; Safilios‐Rothschild, 2006). The general European backlash against gender equality (European Institute for Gender Equality [EIGE], 2020) was evident in the last Rural Development Regulation 2014–2020, which had no statement whatsoever about gender equality.…”