Breaking Patriarchal Succession Cycles: How Land Relations Influence Women's Roles in Farming

• Published in: Rural sociology 2023-06, Vol.88 (2), p.512-545
• Main Authors: Sutherland, Lee‐Ann, McKee, Annie, Hopkins, Jonathan, Hasler, Hannah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural Occupations; Agriculture; Bourdieu, Pierre (1930-2002); Cohort analysis; Daughters; Economic analysis; Farmers; Farming; Farms; Female roles; Females; Focus Groups; Housework; Inheritance; Inheritance and succession; Land; Marriage; Patriarchy; Qualitative analysis; Spouses; Succession; Wives; Women; Working women
• ISSN: 0036-0112; 1549-0831
• DOI: 10.1111/ruso.12484

In this paper we assess the relationship between how women access the land they farm, and their farming identities, roles, and future succession plans. Utilizing a Bourdieusian approach, we conceptualize inheritance of farmland as a long‐term process of symbolic and economic investment. We conducted a cohort analysis of women living or working on farms in Scotland, UK who (a) were or were not raised on farms; and (b) bought into or inherited agricultural land (directly or through their spouses). Data comprised on‐line survey responses, qualitative interviews and focus groups. Analysis demonstrated that women who were raised on farms and either inherited farms or established new farms, were more likely to identify themselves as farmers, engage in machinery work and identify female successors. Women who accessed farmland through marriage tended to engage in more home‐making tasks, to identify themselves as farmers' wives, and to occupy larger farms. These largest, potentially most viable farms thus continue to be inherited by men. However, when women inherit farms, a step change occurs, where daughters are much more likely to be identified as future successors. Enabling women raised on farms to inherit and/or establish new farms is thus critical to altering patriarchal succession cycles.