Farm women and their work: why is it not recognised?

This paper examines the lack of recognition and devaluing of the work of Australian farm women by examining the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) report, Women on Farms (Gooday 1995). The paper argues that the work of ABARE and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is fundamentally flawed by their definition of what constitutes valid work and by their perception that farm family labour can be differentiated by gender such that the work of men is accorded greater value while the work of women is reduced or ignored. By examining the nature of farm family labour, analysing the notions of work and by incorporating a radical feminist framework to this analysis, this paper challenges ABS and ABARE to re-examine their position on the issue of work.