Gendered interest and motivation of the younger generation in agriculture and farm succession

Abstract

In Switzerland farm succession is predominantly patrilinear and controlled by a patriarchal system of succession. A postal survey on farm succession in Switzerland in 2004 elucidated the gender patterns of conditions of succession: the current share of female farm operators stands at 6%. There are no trends towards change. The number of potential female successors ready to take over the farm in the next generation cited by the present operator is again 6% (Rossier & Wyss, 2006). In Switzerland by law women and men are considered equal in all ambits of life. The Act on Gender Equality came into force in 1996. Since then all federal laws that treated women differently from men have been amended.

Citation

Rossier, R. and Wyss, B. (2007), "Gendered interest and motivation of the younger generation in agriculture and farm succession", Asztalos Morell, I. and Bock, B.B. (Ed.) Gender Regimes, Citizen Participation and Rural Restructuring (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 13), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 193-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-1922(07)13008-0