Open AccessI’m More Than a Farmer’s Wife
Author(s) -
Stevie M. Munz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4791
Subject(s) - wife , ideology , agriculture , thematic analysis , sociology , oral history , work (physics) , division of labour , gender studies , social science , qualitative research , geography , political science , engineering , anthropology , law , archaeology , politics , mechanical engineering
Women have always contributed to family farming operations; however, their labor was largely positioned as “women’s work” and ignored as contributing to the economics of the farming enterprise. Through examining the stories of farmers’ wives, this essay examined how the gender division of work and the ideology of domesticity silenced women’s contributions to family farming operations. Through oral history interviews and thematic analysis, this research project presents stories from two farmers’ wives (Annie and Belle) from western Illinois. The resultant analysis reveals that Annie and Belle labored on their family farming operations for most of their lives.