'A Woman in Charge of a Farm': French Women Farmers Challenge Hegemonic Femininity

Using data derived from a study focusing on women in southwest France who performed value-added agriculture, we question to what extent women's involvement in a male-dominated occupation, such as farming, provides a context for them to resist normative expectations of hegemonic femininity and to perform alternative forms of femininity. Our findings demonstrate that hegemonic femininity is being challenged and alternative femininities are emerging. Data show both examples of challenges to and compliances with hegemonic femininity. Consequently, we argue that value-added agriculture might create a space to construct alternative femininities by relying upon the commodification of traditional gender roles and recognising the importance of skills such as farm management, commercialisation and marketing strategies. However, the emergence of alternative femininities, as well as the degree to which these forms of femininity depart from hegemonic femininity, might be contingent upon different interrelated factors such as age, marital status, and farm background. These findings indicate that rural femininity can take different forms and stress the importance of querying gender differences among women themselves in order to accurately portray changing gender dynamics in agriculture.