Policy to support women’s access to agricultural land: A cross-cultural study of European nations and Australia

Women’s face limited access to farming and farming resources such as agricultural land. Gender norms in farming favour masculinity, which facilitate better access to land and resources and a higher valuing of men’s skill sets. Other barriers to farm entrepreneurship include unequal inheritance of farmland and other assets. Without inheriting land, it is very difficult to enter farming, as the barriers to entry are higher than other areas of entrepreneurship. Women’s access to finance, training, networks, policy influence and leadership positions in agriculture is also constrained relative to men’s. This research aims to understand how agricultural policy can support women’s access to agricultural resources as well as access to leadership positions and policy networks. It draws on learnings from a European study, GRASS CEILING, and an Australian study with similar aims. GRASS CEILING was hosted by the South East Technological University in Ireland and spanned nine European nations. This paper asks: 1. Do different legal frameworks governing land transfer impact women’s access to land? 1.2. What does the public policies across the surveyed nations tell us about agricultural gender regimes? 2.3. What policy interventions are likely to support gender transformation in agriculture? Initial findings suggest that the effect of legal rights is impacted by social norms and the subjectivities presented in public policies. The gender order in European and Australian agricultural policy continues to present women as secondary farmers, supporting a primary masculine farmer through largely under-rewarded work. As such public policies to support women in agriculture do not represent a disruption to the gender order. Agriculture is majority family owned and relies on the flexibility of family labour to maintain viability and advantage over corporate farming. A disruption to the gender order would rely on a disruption to the family farming model.