ENTRE ARCHAÏSME ET MODERNITÉ, LE COÛT HUMAIN DU TRAVAIL DES AGRICULTRICES DANS LES EXPLOITATIONS FAMILIALES

• Published in: Travail humain (Paris) 1999, Vol.62 (2), p.155-171
• Main Author: Nicourt, C.
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• Subjects: Ergonomie. Facteur humain; Life Sciences; Psychologie du travail; Psychologie. Psychanalyse. Psychiatrie; Psychologie. Psychophysiologie; RECHERCHES EMPIRIQUES / EMPIRICAL STUDIES; Sciences biologiques et medicales; Sciences biologiques fondamentales et appliquees. Psychologie
• ISSN: 0041-1868; 2104-3663

This document is based on the hypothesis that farm women have maintained a certain coherence between their domestic and professional work. Socially this coherence requires them to hide their professional work which leads to a specific human cost. The results discussed in this article come from an ergonomie analysis done of a group of women working in farms located in the south-west part of France. Farm women are constrained by the work organisation of the farm, especially the constraints which result from their job. Paradoxically, in themselves the women link two seeming extremes. On the one hand, they use archaic skills, rustic tools and out-dated equipment. On the other hand, they master elaborate intellectual methods. Nevertheless, they organise their work as a heterogeneous whole, in an inventive way, in both domestic and professional areas. The organisation of farm exploitations is influenced by such a coherence. In building this coherence, the productivity of professional farm women is improved. The women make sure that information is well spread, and that the work collective members are co-ordinated with their activity. So, they do tasks which require a regular presence close to the farm (some of these tasks, because of sanitary risks, must be done at intervals shorter than an hour). The women are accountants and secretaries for the exploitation, and so they hand on their knowledge of professional exploitations to their children. They also arrange their jobs to conform to the needs of the exploitation. Unfortunately, the myriad small sacrifices which lead to this coherence are not easy to see. This is perhaps why, in spite of their efficiency in the agricultural production, farm women are not considered as professionah. Nevertheless, farm women develop competences which allow them to create a professional identity. Acknowledging this identity could allow them to attain more appropriate techniques relative to their specific jobs. However, their global competences are not yet well defined enough to be considered a profession. Today, society acknowledges the important place of women in farm exploitations only when they are absent. Nous formulons dans cet oracle l'hypothèse que la cohérence qu'ont dû élaborer les agricultrices entre leur travail domestique et leur travail professionnel occulte socialement leur travail professionnel et contribue à le rendre humainement coûteux. Les résultats sont issus de l'analyse ergonomique' du travail d'une vingtaine