Europe

by Howard-Borjas and S. de Rooij

Introduction
1. Agricultural adjustment in Europe
2. Agriculture, food systems and nutrition
3. Women in the farming sector
4. Pluriactivity in farm adjustment
5. Environment, ecological agriculture and green consumerism
6. Conclusions and recommendations
References

Introduction

Food security and people's well-being are strongly related. Reliable and safe food production, processing, distribution, storage and preparation are crucial elements of food security, as is equitable allocation of food among people. More than a decade before the 1996 World Food Conference, in 1974, both Western and Eastern Europe had achieved sufficient food supplies to ensure an adequate diet for all citizens. This was accomplished through the development of modern intensive agriculture, with its concomitant environmental and social problems, and through changes in the agrofood system and in consumer demand which have given rise to new nutrition, food safety and equity concerns. Problems of poverty and relative food insecurity persist among vulnerable populations throughout Europe, especially in southern Europe and, increasingly, in certain countries in transition.

Women workers packing avocados at Pri-Shomron packing plant in Israel

The 1990s and beyond look to be a watershed in the development of the European food system; a period in which the excesses of the productivist post-Second World War decades are being brought into line, and where the roles of governments, markets and agriculture itself are shifting dramatically over much of Western and Eastern Europe. The Central and Eastern European countries (hereafter referred to as the CEEC) are engaged in the privatization and structural reform of agriculture and food systems, whereas Western Europe is attempting to achieve a balance between agriculture and environmental quality, nature conservation, food safety, farm diversification and human development.

In the region, women have always been key actors in the food and agricultural system. Their labour predominates throughout its formal sectors; as employees, family workers, employers or self-employed in primary production, in the food processing industry and in food-related services (markets, restaurants and retail food shops). Much of women's contribution to the agrofood system takes place in the domestic sphere where it goes largely unrecognized because it is not measured. Food-related activities within the household, such as food purchase, preparation and serving, are still predominantly female activities. Many women produce food in home gardens and raise small livestock to supplement their family's food supply. On farms this is typically a woman's job, as is the related work in processing and preservation. Farm women are most often classified as "unpaid family workers"; farmers are thought to be male, while farm women are seen as "farmers' wives", even when they share equally in decision-making and farm operations. In short, women's importance to agrofood systems is generally underestimated.

This chapter focuses on how farm women are being affected by the transformations that are taking place in both Eastern and Western Europe and on their actual and potential contributions to achieving the broad goals of these transformations. Farm women in Europe constitute a very heterogeneous population; their positions differ depending on region, household and farm structure, and personal characteristics such as level of education, age and marital status. As a result of the transition in Eastern Europe, many women who were state farm workers or cooperative members only a few years ago are no longer employed in agriculture, while some who worked outside agriculture now find themselves farming. In Western Europe, many women from farm households work only off-farm, others have migrated to urban areas, many others combine on- and off-farm work and some are engaged in activities such as agrotourism which have little to do with actual on-farm production. Farm women's identities and experiences are also affected by problems in the agrofood system as consumers and as people who are concerned with environmental, household and community welfare.

Throughout Europe, farm women's lives and circumstances are changing fairly radically. Change is occurring in gender relations manifest at a macrosocial level (e.g. in the composition of the labour force, in educational systems, in policies oriented towards equality or emancipation) as well as within farm households, although there the gender division of labour appears to be relatively impermeable to change and continues to have very substantial effects on women's position both on- and off-farm. Farm women are also affected by more global socio-political and economic changes which have specific impacts on gender relations, but they are also affected as farmers, farm family members and rural workers and citizens per se. This chapter first addresses the global adjustments occurring in agrofood systems in Europe and the ways in which people are being affected as consumers, farmers and rural workers.

The chapter then examines the participation of women in agriculture in Western Europe and the CEEC, as farmers, as employees and as the unemployed in the agricultural sector, as well as the major trends in agrofood systems that are leading to differentiation among farming women. The following sections address the importance of farm women and pluriactivity, environment, ecological farming and "green consumerism" in farm adjustment in Western Europe, where women are seen not only as "adjusters" but also as innovators involved in the development of diverse alternative strategies. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are drawn linking issues of farm women's emancipation, environment, human development and agrofood system adjustment in the two regions.

1. Agricultural adjustment in Europe

1.1 Adjustment in western Europe and the common agricultural policy
1.2 Agricultural transition in the CEEC

Adjustment in the two major regions of Europe is concerned with the profitability, sustainability, safety and quality of food and agriculture, as well as with the development of human resources, the quality of living and the natural environment in rural areas. In spite of the great divergence in the social and economic systems of the two regions over the post-Second World War era, both promoted agricultural and food policies of intensification and modernization of agriculture in order to produce cheap food for self-sufficiency, food security, export and profit. Major increases in productivity were forthcoming. In those countries of the CEEC that are more developed and that implemented market reforms early on, agrofood systems began to look quite similar to those in Western Europe, while the poorer centrally planned economies of the region lagged behind in agricultural production and had less-developed food processing and distribution systems.

The heritage of these policies includes some of the most productive agrofood systems in the world, as well as some of the best fed people. However, it also includes environmentally unsustainable practices, oversupplies of food together with diets that imply major health risks, declining rural employment, rural depopulation together with the ageing of the rural population, and levels of rural deprivation that cannot be tolerated in these relatively rich societies. Adjustment in both regions must take as a starting point the problems and structures created by previous policies and regimes.

1.1 Adjustment in western Europe and the common agricultural policy

Europe's dependence on United States food aid and problems with food shortages during the decade after the Second World War were influential in the development of policies oriented towards achieving food self-sufficiency through labour-intensive agriculture over the region. By the end of the 1950s, food security and self-sufficiency were largely achieved, and strategies were reoriented to promote the modernization of agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy (Article 39 (1) of the EEC Treaty) had the following objectives:

· to increase agricultural productivity by developing technical progress and by ensuring the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilization of the factors of production, particularly labour;

· to ensure thereby a fair standard of living for the agricultural population, particularly by increasing the individual earnings of people engaged in agriculture;

· to stabilize markets;

· to guarantee regular supplies;

· to ensure reasonable prices in supplies to consumers (NSCGP, 1992:25-26).

This policy was achieved through substantial farmer subsidies and international protectionism, large state investments in agricultural research and development and the concomitant intensification of agriculture based upon high use of external inputs (e.g. machinery, pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers). High technology agriculture became the ideal, serving as an important guideline for agricultural producers, agribusiness, extension and research, and as a symbol of good farming and entrepreneurship.

The resulting farming model was characterized by scale enlargement, specialization, intensification and integration in the agro-industrial food chain. These "vanguard farms" are strongly dependent on external capital, inputs, knowledge and labour, and are vulnerable to changes in market, price, trade, environmental and structural policies. On the other hand, their superior economic and technical resources give them advantages when adjustment is required. Because these farms make heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, they have a significant impact on the environment, particularly through the pollution of water and soil. Damage to nature and to landscapes, low-quality bulk products, stressful on-farm labour situations and large surpluses are among the negative consequences of this farming strategy.

In some parts of Europe, the vanguard farm became the dominant farm enterprise model (e.g. in the Netherlands), whereas in other areas farm enterprise development was far more heterogeneous (e.g. Southern Europe and the United Kingdom). National policies and markets, the role of science and extension and the linkages between them, geographical characteristics, alternative regional and (international employment opportunities, as well as cultural norms and values, all influenced farming styles.

Many farm households increasingly moved away from agriculture as a main source of income, and pluriactivity (on- and off-farm agricultural and non-agricultural income-generating activities involving one or more of the members of the farm household) became more of a rule than an exception. Moreover, there was a trend towards a steady decline in the number of farm enterprises and a concomitant decrease in employment in agriculture and in the countryside as a whole. The number of agricultural enterprises declined throughout Western Europe, as can be seen in Table 1 which presents data for 15 Western European countries over the period 1980 to 1993. This substantial reduction in the number of agricultural enterprises is of concern not only to the people directly involved; revitalizing and repopulating the countryside is an important priority on the political agenda of the European Union (EU) and of its national governments.

Table 1 Change in the number of farm enterprises in the EU 15, 1980 to 1993 (percentage)

Country	Percent change	Country	Percent change
Denmark	-37	Finland	-15
France	-30	Austria	-13
Luxembourg	-26	Spain	-10
Ireland	-25	Italy	-10
FR Germany	-23	Netherlands	-9
Sweden	-22	United Kingdom	-5
Belgium	-18	Portugal	+28
Greece	-16

Source: Derived from Eurostat. For Spain, the beginning of the period is 1982.

Another major outcome of this modernization process was that, by the end of the 1980s, Western Europe was a net food exporter and stockpiled large agricultural surpluses. The cost to the EU of these food surpluses now dominates the policy agenda, and European surpluses have also been the target of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) reforms since they affect people in other parts of the world. Protectionism and dumping present serious threats to the food security of developing countries and especially the poor in these countries. Conflicts with trading partners and international criticism of trading policies have resulted. The EU must now attempt to reduce production. Quotas (e.g. for sugar and milk), reductions in price supports or substitution with direct payments, and set-aside schemes (in which the use of land for agricultural purposes is temporarily discontinued) are meant to achieve this goal (NSCGP, 1992). However, as of 1993/94, it was not clear that agricultural support was diminishing, supplies were decreasing or trade barriers were being lifted (OECD, 1994:137-142).

Declining employment in the countryside is certain: "...the loss of jobs in the agricultural sector already amounts to 2 to 3 percent a year. If this trend continues, in 15 years' time employment will be about 40 percent lower than today, despite all the measures taken" (NSCGP, 1992). However, the situation is not precarious everywhere. There are regions in which agricultural employment is rising, as in some areas in southern Spain, Portugal, northern France, northern Italy and Scotland (Boeraeve-Derijcke, 1994). Not all rural communities, regions and countries are affected by the developments in the same way. The consequences of the adjustment policies are diverse. Compared to the last decades in which agrarian science, policy and agro-industry succeeded to a certain degree in homogenizing farming, agriculture is again becoming increasingly heterogeneous, owing in large part to farm households' responses to adjustment policies and changing social and economic conditions.

1.2 Agricultural transition in the CEEC

In the CEEC, the agricultural sector is undergoing a difficult transformation in the context of general systemic change. In the former system, land distribution, farm structures, markets, prices, inputs, outputs, machinery, finance, services and social provisions (wages, services and benefits) were determined politically although they were often organized or implemented locally or managed by the enterprise. As the economies were liberalized, beginning in the late 1980s, economic performance across the region deteriorated sharply; the losses in GDP were substantial, high inflation reflected great economic instability, investments and savings declined and unemployment soared. Between 1990 and 1992, in Central Europe, real GDP decreased by 9.5 percent while inflation rose by 156 percent; in the former USSR during the same period, GDP dropped by 9.9 percent and inflation grew to 199 percent (Euroconsult, 1995:8). Recently the macroeconomic situation has tended to stabilize; in 1993/94, GDP declines slowed or growth occurred in Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland and Albania, but unemployment continued to rise (OECD, 1994:200).

Agricultural performance was also affected as land reforms were implemented, farm enterprises restructured, markets became fragmented and disorganized, supply and distribution systems became dysfunctional or disappeared, subsidies decreased or were eliminated, and input prices rose (Euroconsult, 1995:9). Agricultural output declined by 14 percent in 1992 and by 4 percent in 1993. Output prices have not kept up with increases in production costs and have been restrained by the lack of domestic demand, loss of former markets and difficult access to western markets (OECD, 1994).

Reforms in the CEEC are related to a redirection of labour and social policy for the ultimate purpose of achieving greater efficiency, productivity and flexibility (Moghadam, 1993:342-345). Reforms are guided by normative arguments based in part on standard economic welfare theory which advocates trade liberalization, competition and private ownership to achieve maximum efficiency. Individual political and economic freedoms are seen to be guaranteed in part by private property rights. Finally, justice and equity are important aspects of the reforms in all countries, as seen both in the redistribution of land and assets and in the attempts to attenuate the worst social effects of the transition (unemployment, poverty and decreasing access to social services) which are manifest in rising rates of morbidity, mortality, malnutrition and crime throughout much of the region (Euroconsult, 1995:3-7; Barr, 1994).

A new farming structure is emerging, consisting of a mixture of small family farms, larger multi-family or commercial units, and looser cooperatives and farmers' associations that have been created from large-scale socialized farms (Csaki and Lerman, 1994:553, 571; Petit and Brooks, 1994; Waedekin, 1991), It was not anticipated that the private farm sector would retain a cooperative structure. However, many farmers have chosen this option in order to gain access to support structures as well as machinery and equipment that was adapted only to large-scale production.

For example, in Bulgaria, most farmers received small, dispersed plots, and therefore are now forming cooperatives (49 percent of all private farmers) (Keliyan, 1994:131), In the Russian Federation, more than 42 percent of the large cooperatives are still in place after reforms - the majority representing a simple extension of the old structures. These farmers prefer to subsist from their household plots and provide only surplus labour to the cooperative (Nickolsky, 1994:163). Over the region, resistance to privatization and the reluctance of workers to take up private farming have been factors in the prolonged process of restructuring agrarian systems (Csaki and Lerman, 1994; Euroconsult 1995; Bonanno, 1993). The new cooperatives do not necessarily provide a solution for farmers: "Unresolved land issues, overmanning, lack of entrepreneurial skills and heavy debts have held back the economic performance of the new structures" (OECD, 1994: 201).

Many other problems plague the family farm sector. Family farm households are generally small in size and headed by older farmers. Many private farmers lack appropriate experience in farm management. Much of the machinery and equipment is old and inefficient, in disrepair, and not suited to conditions found on small farms. About 80 percent of private farmers and 55 to 90 percent of farm enterprise managers surveyed in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania indicated that they considered that access to credit was not an option because of high interest rates (Euroconsult, 1995:103); most were also unwilling to participate in marketing associations in spite of difficulties with market access and terms.

2. Agriculture, food systems and nutrition

2.1 Food systems and nutrition in western Europe
2.2 Food and nutrition in the CEEC: similarities and divergence

To understand why agricultural systems have undergone restructuring it is important to look at the major changes in larger food systems and in dietary patterns, which also reflect socio-economic and technical development. Over time, the main dietary staples of Europe have changed, as has the proportion of the family budget spent on food. While in 1920 a family spent an average of 50 percent of its budget to feed itself, in recent decades this has dropped to 20 to 30 percent over most of Europe, meaning that not only can families achieve an adequate diet, but they can do so on very reasonable terms. With restructuring in the CEEC, this percentage has begun to climb again, while in the West it continues to decrease (Hermus, 1990:69). At the same time, the general health of the European population and its life expectancy have continued to improve.

Problems of food scarcity and food supplies, while evident in Western Europe during and immediately after the Second World War, have been replaced by problems of oversupply. The major health problems of the European population are no longer related to malnutrition or poor food hygiene, but they are still related to diet; obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes and cancers are associated with excessive consumption of fat, cholesterol, salts, alcohol and sugar and with fibre deficiency (James, 1988:7-14). This reflects changes in the diet; a decline in the consumption of cereals, roots and tubers, and an increase in that of animal products.

2.1 Food systems and nutrition in western Europe

A century ago most food passed from farmers to consumers with little intermediation and processing, or was consumed on-farm by populations that were predominantly rural. Diets were very region- and season-specific. Technological and industrial change, as well as increasing regional and international trade in food, revolutionized food systems which moved towards producing bulk commodities as inputs for highly standardized processing and retailing operations.

The highly competitive retail food sector seeks to maintain market shares by introducing innovative, high-value food products that require elaborate packaging and distribution systems. This has been accompanied by growth in "niche markets" for foods that reflect changes in consumer demand, which is increasingly oriented towards combating the health problems implicit in an affluent diet and a highly industrialized agrofood system, as well as towards enjoying the fruits of an increasingly interdependent world market.

These changes are reflected in the emergence of food retailers as the most powerful agents in food systems. Furthermore, most food consumed at home is purchased in supermarkets and hypermarkets: "In Western Europe as a whole, these two store types account for 96 percent of packaged food sales, 82 percent of soft drinks, 78 percent of cheese, 53 percent of 'fresh' fruit and vegetables, 42 percent of fresh meat, 34 percent of fresh fish and seafood and 30 percent of fresh bread" (FAO 1994:2).

There are several major implications of these changes for the agricultural sector. As demand shifts, agricultural production also has to shift quantitatively, e.g. decreasing meat and dairy production and increasing production of olive oils. Also, the type of farming system may have to change, for example, to supply the demand for organic products. Furthermore, farmers will have to specialize increasingly in order to produce for niche markets and to provide inputs for processors and retailers which have ever more stringent requirements. Finally, the increase in the power of retailers means that farmers cede much control through contract production (FAO, 1994:15).

The increased supply of industrialized pre-prepared food was stimulated not only by policies, increasing affluence and technical change, but also by the changing gender division of labour. The growth in the paid female labour force which in part permitted increasing affluence after the Second World War also changed food consumption patterns (Goodman and Redclift, 1991). Women with paid jobs outside the home have less time for household activities such as cooking. Therefore the demand for pre-prepared foods increased and the introduction of technologies such as the freezer and the microwave oven further spurred changes in household food preparation. These same phenomena also increased the propensity of Europeans to eat out, which spurred the growth of fast food and takeaway markets as well as restaurants.

Europeans are increasingly concerned with their unhealthy lifestyles, of which bulk food products and industrial pre-prepared foods form a part. It is common knowledge that chemicals are part of vanguard farming and of industrial processed foods. Apart from residues of chemicals used in production (fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics), food can be contaminated by bacteria and viruses in animals (for example, salmonella and BSE) and also contains a plethora of chemical additives used in industrial food processing. Biotechnology (genetic manipulation) is also increasingly used in food production. Serious public health concerns regularly arise: poisoned olive oil (Spain), contaminated wine (Austria), dangerous baby food and aflatoxine in milk (the Netherlands), carcinogenic additives in cheese, forbidden hormones (DES) added to fodder and used to stimulate growth in animals (clenbuterol) and BSE affecting United Kingdom beef are only a few examples.

While organic food production in Europe has a tradition dating back to the beginning of the century, it was only in the 1970s that consumer demand for organically produced fruit, vegetables, wine, dairy and meat products rose substantially. "As a bloc, Europe is the world's biggest market for organic produce" (Tate, 1991:1). Growing concern about pesticides was a major stimulus, where European regulations were perceived by many to be less than sufficient to protect consumers. In the 1980s, increasing concern for animal rights, as well as concern over the use of antibiotics and growth-promoting agents in feed, created demand for organic animal products originating from the humane livestock husbandry systems. Demand is certain to continue to rise given phenomena such as BSE ("mad cow" disease) (Tate, 1991:2). The environmental movement has also contributed to consumer demand for food products that result from environmentally sound farming practices. "The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts a 25 percent per annum increase in the production and consumption of organic foods in Europe, albeit from a low base..." (FAO, 1994:9).

2.2 Food and nutrition in the CEEC: similarities and divergence

Under the former regimes, much of CEEC food policy was oriented towards achieving self-sufficiency in food production and cheap food supplies. Food consumption was encouraged while consumers lacked access to other goods and services, and food subsidies constituted a large percentage of governments' budgets. Dietary patterns changed and tended to converge with those in Western Europe, especially as regards the trend towards increasing consumption of fats, sugar and alcohol, to the point where some countries, such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia, had associated mortality rates (e.g. from coronary heart disease) that were among the highest in Europe (James, 1988:20-21; Hungary, 1992:3; Czechoslovakia, Federal Ministry of Economy, 1992:7).

Food processing and distribution systems, as well as the corresponding institutional arrangements for control of quality and food hygiene, were unevenly developed throughout the CEEC, but generally were far less developed in comparison with Western Europe. While in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, food processing and quality control systems were well developed, there were major deficiencies in many other countries. In Romania, unstable supplies of raw materials and lack of competition between suppliers meant that food processing plants received inadequate inputs in terms of both sanitation and composition. Under state monopoly, quality standards were not guaranteed; as of 1992 the food processing industry was still mainly in state hands. In Poland, food poisoning and food-borne infection were and still are important health problems; in 1991, 15 percent of food sampled had low microbiological quality.

Industrial and agricultural pollution has also affected food safety; the Upper Silesian Industrial Area is one of the most polluted in Europe, where the amounts of lead, cadmium and mercury in vegetables "are many times in excess of the highest permitted levels" (Szponar et al., n.d.: 36-37). Before 1990, Bulgaria had a limited food processing industry, insufficient modern technology and no national system of quality control (Petrova et al., 1992:4). However, since the reforms, research shows that the net effect of agrofood policies in Bulgaria has been to redistribute income in favor of retailers, with a substantial negative impact on producers and no positive effects for consumers (Ivanova et al., 1995).

Malnutrition was a rare phenomenon in the CEEC, with the exception of Albania which is the least-developed of all European countries. With the transition, however, food prices have been liberalized (although some food prices are still controlled, they have been allowed to increase substantially). Given decreasing incomes, the relative cost of food has increased dramatically. In Romania in 1989, food expenditures represented 51 percent of the total household budget for employees' families, 69.9 percent for peasant families, and 59.8 percent for pensioners. Surveys conducted in 1991 revealed animal protein deficiencies, "insufficiency of milk and milk products, insufficiency of fresh fruits and vegetables mainly in the off-season, and low quality of meat and meat products" (Dumitrache et al., n.d.: 9).

In Poland under communism, rationing was introduced three times in the post-war period, including in the 1980s. The privatization of the food economy began in August 1989 with the removal of price controls and liberalization of profit margins in food processing and retailing. By the end of 1989, food prices had risen 300 percent over the previous year and in 1990 they rose by an additional 570 percent, which "markedly exceeded the rate of growth of prices of alcoholic beverages and non-food products" (Szponar et al., n.d. :26). In 1991, food prices decreased by 46 percent as farmers faced surpluses resulting from the decrease in demand. Household budget surveys indicated that all socio-economic groups had to limit food consumption. Dietary energy content declined, with farmers' and pensioners' households showing the greatest decrease (Szponar et al, n.d. :32). The diet in workers' households was 11 percent below recommended levels; and in farmers' households it was 6 percent lower. All households had less protein intake than recommended, but fat content exceeded recommendations (Szponar et al., n.d. :33-34).

In the Russian Federation, dietary deficiencies are now commonplace: "Throughout Russia in 1992 it was estimated that deficits in nutritional intake amounted to 25 percent of the required protein value, 30 percent of vitamin B, 50 percent of vitamin C and up to 40 percent of the fibre intake. For the Russian population as a whole the shortfall in required food energy can be calculated at c 20 percent - the first time such a situation had occurred since the end of the Second World War...." (Nickolsky, 1994:164).

It is therefore evident that malnutrition is a growing problem in many areas of the CEEC. Pregnant women, infants and young children are particularly at risk: "parents of young children tend themselves to be young and hence to have relatively low earnings; and mothers with young children have a higher than average risk of unemployment... Increases in maternal and infant mortality in Russia in 1992 are early warning signs of the impact of the transition" (Barr et al., 1994:81).

3. Women in the farming sector

3.1 Women in agriculture in Western Europe
3.2 Women in agriculture in the CEEC

Women in Western Europe and the CEEC are extensively involved in farm enterprises as female farm heads, co-farmers and family farm workers. They are also employees of farm enterprises - in Western Europe mainly as low-skilled workers, whereas in the CEEC, often in a professional or skilled capacity. A large number of farm women are active off-farm, providing income for their families or for the maintenance of the farm which is operated by their husbands or other family members, or pursuing their own careers. In both regions, transformations in agriculture are having multiple and divergent effects on farm women, on the one hand pushing them out of farming or reducing their farm-level responsibilities and increasing the precariousness of their existence; and on the other hand opening up new possibilities for professionalization and independence. Women's capacities to make use of these new possibilities, and to support the adjustment process by applying their creative abilities and strategies, are highly dependent on the overall conditions in agriculture and rural areas.

3.1 Women in agriculture in Western Europe

In the EU as a whole, rural areas represent 80 percent of the total land area and contain 25 percent of the population (van Depoele, 1995). The density and structure of the population, economic activities, infrastructure and natural resources vary considerably across Western Europe, as does the future development potential of rural areas. Agriculture has always predominated in the countryside over most of Western Europe, both economically and with respect to social life and culture.

Table 2 Total agricultural workforce and women and men as a percentage of the economically active population (EAP) in agriculture, EU 12,1993

Country	Total workforce (000's)	Percentage male	Percentage female
Austria	..	..	..
Belgium	99	70.1	29.9
Denmark	131	76.3	23.7
FR Germany	1 272	59.7	40.3
Greece	791	58.4	41.6
Finland	..	..	..
France	1 195	63.9	36.1
Ireland	151	89.0	11.0
Italy	1 619	63.9	36.1
Luxembourg	5	69.8	30.2
Netherlands	265	74.1	25.9
Portugal	516	50.4	49.6
Spain	1 212	72.1	27.9
Sweden	..	..	..
United Kingdom	518	76.3	23.7
EU total	7773	65.0	35.0

Source: European Commission, 1996.

In 1993, some 8 million people in the 12-country EU were working in agriculture, of whom 35 percent were women (Table 2). Employment in agriculture varies considerably throughout the EU; in 1992 it represented less than 3 percent of the total labour force in Belgium and the United Kingdom, 14 percent in Ireland and 22 percent in Greece (Table 3). These differences are also reflected in women's participation in agriculture, which in general has been declining, except in the Netherlands, where the percentage of the agricultural workforce that is female increased (Tables 4 and 5).

There is substantial variation in the percentage of the agricultural labour force that is female throughout Western Europe. At one extreme, women constitute only a small proportion of the agricultural labour force in Ireland (10.4 percent) and at the other extreme, half of the labour force in Portugal (49.7 percent) (Table 5). In eight of the EU-12 countries they represent between a quarter and a third of the agricultural workforce. The proportion of the agricultural labour force which is female has been increasing over the last decade in Greece, Spain and especially the Netherlands, whereas it decreased in Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Ireland and Luxembourg, and remained stable in the other countries.

Table 3 Percentage of EAP employed in agriculture, EU 15,1992

Country	Percentage in agriculture	Country	Percentage in agriculture
Austria	7.1	Italy	8.2
Belgium	2.5	Luxembourg	3.0
Denmark	5.5	Netherlands	3.8
FR Germany	3.4	Portugal	11.6
Greece	21.9	Spain	10.1
Finland	8.6	Sweden	3.3
France	5.2	United Kingdom	2.3
Ireland	13.6

Source: European Commission, 1996.

Table 4 Percentage of female EAP employed in agriculture, EU 12, 1983-1990

Country	1983	1987	1990
Belgium	2.9	2.5	2.3
Denmark	3.9	3.2	2.8
FR Germany	7.4	5.4	4.1
Greece	39.8	35.4	30.2
France	7.5	6.3	5.2
Italy	13.3	10.6	9.4
Ireland	7.7	4.9	4.8
Luxembourg	4.9	3.1	3.7
Netherlands	3.3	3.6	3.4
Portugal	..	27.3	21.3
Spain	..	13	10.1
United Kingdom	1.3	1.2	1.1

Source: Eurostat Labour Force Surveys. Reported in CEC, 1993.

Table 6 shows that a greater proportion of southern European farm women work full time in agriculture (Portugal, 84 percent; Greece, 87 percent; Spain, 93 percent), whereas in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom the majority work part time (65 percent and 54 percent, respectively). Farm women are much more likely to work part time in comparison with men in all countries of the EU. This reflects the gender division of labour within the household and women's overall higher labour burdens (i.e. women's responsibilities for household tasks and child care). Work weeks of more than 70 hours are common, and it is estimated that farm women have longer work hours in comparison with their husbands and with urban women (Braithwaite, 1994). The number of full- and part-time jobs for women in agriculture declined in eight out of 12 countries over the period 1987 to 1990 (Table 7).

Whether or not women work full or part time in agriculture, they tend to be classified as family workers rather than employers or self-employed. Table 8 shows that between 50 and 82 percent of all men working in agriculture are classified as employers or self-employed, in comparison with 9 to 39 percent of all women, with the notable exception of Portugal, where 75 percent of all women are classified as such. These figures reflect the reality of women's frequent marginalization in the management of agricultural enterprises, as well as the social and cultural definition of women as family caretakers even when they play a major role in farm production and management.

Types of farming women

The relatively low and declining rates of female labour force participation in agriculture are most likely recent phenomena associated with the process of farm modernization. Research indicates that women on vanguard farms are often marginalized in the farm production process. The development of modern farming with its advanced technologies implied a drastic restructuring of the production process; some tasks were taken over by agents external to the farm, others became increasingly standardized and new tasks that required new skills were created (Fonte et al., 1994). Subsequently, a revision and redefinition of the division of farm labour took place. For farm women this can mean a loss of their own labour domain on the farm, a degrading and de skilling of their farm tasks, and a loss of influence in business development (de Rooij, 1994; de Rooij et al., 1995).

Table 5 Female percentage of EAP in agriculture, EU 12,1983-1990

Country	1983	1987	1990
Belgium	28.6	28.4	26.0
Denmark	23.7	24.7	23.1
FR Germany	49.9	45.5	43.9
Greece	43.4	45.0	44.5
France	36.3	35.2	34.4
Italy	35.4	33.6	35.4
Ireland	13.3	10.0	10.4
Luxembourg	38.5	40.0	33.3
Netherlands	19.8	25.6	27.3
Portugal	-	50.2	49.7
Spain	-	25.5	27.1
United Kingdom	20.4	20.8	22.7

Source: Eurostat Labour Force Surveys.

Table 6 Distribution of labour force in agriculture by part-time and full-time status and sex, EU 12,1989

Country	Men		Women
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Belgium	94.8	-	-	-
Denmark	78.4	21.6	61.2	38.8
Greece	91.5	-	87.0	-
FR Germany	98.1	(1.8)	73.0	27,0
France	92.4	7.6	67.3	32.7
Ireland	95.8	-	-	-
Italy	88.3	11.7	70.0	30.0
Luxembourg	-	-	-	-
Netherlands	79.7	20.3	34.7	65.3
Portugal	96.0	(4.0)	83.9	16.1
Spain	99.0	(1.0)	92.9	(7.0)
United Kingdom	95.1	4.9	46.3	53.7

Source: Eurostat (1991) Labour Force Survey Results 1989. Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA.

In other sectors, such as arable farming, that are very much affected by adjustment, farm women became almost superfluous on the farm. They engage in off-farm jobs where they earn money to keep the farm going (de Rooij et al. 1995; Haugen and Brandt, 1994; Symes, 1991). The overall trends in the participation of spouses (mainly women) working on farms are also divergent throughout the region (Table 9). The trend has been towards less spouse involvement in areas where vanguard farms tend to predominate, and greater involvement in areas where farming styles are more heterogeneous in the south, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

In the more marginalized areas of the EU, there are two different developments affecting farm women: on the one hand there is noticeable outmigration, especially of young women, particularly in areas where a strong patriarchal culture coexists with difficult working and living conditions, as for example in Spain and Italy; on the other hand, there is also an increase in the number of female-headed farms (Spain, Portugal and Italy) (Fonte et al., 1994). Women provide safety nets where male outmigration has become a dominant feature. In these areas, women adjust farming to reflect the reduced availability of labour (e.g. diminishing the area farmed, converting to extensive farming, placing greater emphasis on subsistence, starting cooperatives, converting to agrotourism) and receive remittances from their husbands.

Table 7 Growth of full-time and part-time jobs for women in agriculture, EU 12,1987-1990

Country	Percent change (total)	Percent change (full-time)	Percent change (part-time)
Belgium	1.7	8.5	-6.8
Denmark	-	-	-
FR Germany	-20.0	-11.2	-8.8
Greece	-9.1	-4.5	-4.6
France	-16.0	-9.6	-6.4
Italy	-	-	-
Ireland	4.7	4.2	0.5
Luxembourg	11.8	5.5	6.3
Netherlands	2.9	-8.8	11.7
Portugal	-14.4	-13.8	-0.6
Spain	-5.9	-3.5	-2.4
United Kingdom	-18.1	-3.0	-15.1

Source: Eurostat Labour Force Surveys.

Table 8 Men and women in the agricultural labour force by status, EU 12,1989

Country	Men			Women
	Employers and self employed	Employees	Family workers	Employers and self employed	Employees	Family workers
Belgium	81.2	9.7	9.1	25.8	-	67.1
Denmark	60.6	39.3	-	(9.9)	36.7	53.4
FR Germany	58.5	31.7	9.8	9.6	16.7	73.7
Greece	79.5	5.1	15.4	25.2	3.1	71.7
France	71.0	20.4	8.7	33.2	12.2	54.7
Ireland	77.5	13.6	8.9	36.2	-	51.4
Italy	56.7	37.7	5.6	33.7	41.8	24.6
Luxembourg	82.0	-	-	-	-	(68.2)
Netherlands	58.8	38.3	2.9	12.1	28.8	59.1
Portugal	65.0	23.6	11.4	75.1	10.6	14.3
Spain	52.7	35.9	11.4	39.0	14.9	46.1
United Kingdom	65.0	23.6	11.4	-	-	-

Source: Eurostat (1991) Labour Force Survey Results 1989. Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA.

Table 9 Change in the number of spouses working on the farm, EU 12,1980-1993

Country	Percent change number of spouses
Denmark	-11.2
Luxembourg	-8.1
FR Germany	-8.1
Netherlands	-7.2
France	-4.4
Belgium	-3.2
Greece (1980-1989)	+0.2
Spain (1987-1989)	+1.6
Portugal (1987-1993)	+1.6
Italy (1980-1989)	+1.7
Ireland	+2.1
UK (1980-1989)	+4.7

Source: European Commission, 1996, Table 3.5.1.5.2.

Female-headed farms can be a consequence of economic difficulties on the farm, combined with gender-specific opportunities on the labour market and gender-specific working practices. In some regions in southern Europe (e.g. Italy, Portugal and Greece) a combination of these factors has led to a high rate of male outmigration, leaving women in charge of farms. In other parts of Europe, there is also an increasing feminization of agriculture. In 1991, the highest degree of feminization in agriculture was found in central Portugal (59 percent), Niederbayern in Germany (58 percent), Galicia in Spain (53 percent) and Molise in Italy (51 percent) (Braithwaite, 1994:41). Female-headed farms can also be an outcome of a deliberate choice of young women who wish to farm as a professional career. The increase in the number of women obtaining professional degrees in agricultural sciences provides testimony to women's emancipation and professionalization in agriculture, a trend especially in the richer regions of Western Europe. In Norway, 10 percent of the farms are female-headed, a process that was facilitated by a change in inheritance laws which permits eldest daughters to inherit the farm (Haugen, 1990).

Table 10 Number of permanent agricultural workers by sex, EU 12,1988

Country	Men	Women	Total	Women as percent
Belgium	2820	374	3194	11.7
Denmark	12680	1 938	14618	13.3
FR Germany	16555	3315	19870	16.7
France	84562	10389	94951	10.9
Ireland	11 039	294	11 333	2.6
Italy	100984	3718	104702	3.6
Luxembourg	307	16	323	5.0
Netherlands	21 423	2192	23615	9.3
Portugal	-	-	-	-
Spain	113940	3010	116950	2.6
United Kingdom	105598	3637	109235	3.3
Total	469 908	28883	498 791	6.0

Source: Derived from national data as reported in Eurostat (1990) Earnings in Agriculture 1988.
Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA.

Declaring female headship can also facilitate access to benefits in relation to various tax regulations or subsidies. In these cases men work off the farm but still make the major decisions about farm operations. The same holds true for some of the farms where husbands and wives co-farm. However, co-farming can also be a deliberate choice of farm women, stemming from their need to have more formal influence on the farm, greater visibility in their work, and professional status. In a co-farming contract, rewards, the division of labour and decision-making can be formalized. The growing diversification of agriculture is often accompanied by an increase in formal arrangements for co-farming. When women take up a farm specialization or initiate agricultural or non-agricultural activities of their own, working relations on the farm may become more egalitarian (de Rooij, 1994).

Women leave the farm for a diversity of reasons (Fonte et al., 1994; Bryden et al., 1993; Overbeek, 1995). Farm daughters leave the farm and the countryside, preferring participation in the labour market over the burdens and subordination experienced by their mothers. They also often have better opportunities as a result of higher levels of education. Farm wives also move out of farming. Some are forced to work off-farm by the economic situation of the farm enterprise. Others move out because of a lack of satisfying farm work or to escape the drudgery and long hours. Female farm-leavers include women who continue to work in the off-farm jobs they had prior to marriage, who do not wish to sacrifice careers outside agriculture or their economic independence, even though they often share in farm work.

Table 11 Distribution of permanent manual farm workers by sex and type of work, EU 12,1988

Country	Male			Female
	General agric.	Stock keeping	Specialized crops	General agric.	Stock keeping	Specialized crops
Belgium	19.6	8.4	72.0	0.0	6.0	92.0
Denmark	60.0	22.4	17.6	12.8	15.2	72.0
FR Germany	30.9	7.7	61.4	2.3	3.4	94.3
France	60.9	5.3	33.7	33.3	7.7	59.0
Ireland	54.0	40.1	5.9	28.4	42.9	29.1
Italy	70.3	21.6	8.2	50.0	40.5	9.5
Luxembourg	67.1	4.4	28.5	-	-	63.6
Netherlands	5.9	13.7	80.4	0.0	6.8	91.7
Portugal	72.0	25,8	2.2	69.8	25.9	4.2
Spain	23.0	24.7	52.3	24.2	17.9	57.8
United Kingdom	75.6	18.7	5.7	26.4	27.7	46.0

Source: Derived from national data as reported in Eurostat (1990) Earnings in Agriculture 1988. Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA.

Table 12 Sex distribution of manual farm workers according to number of permanent workers employed by the farm, EU 12,1988

Country	Male			Female
	1-2 perm. workers	3-9 perm. workers	10+ perm. workers	1-2 perm. workers	3-9 perm. workers	10+ perm. workers
Belgium	39.4	42.7	17.9	19.3	57.5	23.3
Denmark	60.7	30.0	9.2	26.6	33.1	40.2
FR Germany	29.6	37.7	32.7	6.3	36.5	57.2
France	37.3	34.7	28.0	37.3	34.7	28.0
Ireland	66.9	21.1	12.1	38.8	31.3	30.2
Italy	36.8	35.8	27.4	36.8	35.8	27.4
Luxembourg	65.3	24.6	10.1	-	59.1	-
Netherlands	25.7	32.2	42.1	10.8	27.7	61.5
Portugal	29.7	40.7	29.5	16.2	35.3	48.4
Spain	36.4	41.2	22.4	16.4	24.9	58.7
United Kingdom	40.1	42.8	17.2	18.5	31.7	49.8

Source: Derived from national data as reported in Eurostat (1990) Earnings in Agriculture 1988. Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA

Women as farm employees and off farm workers in the EU

In 1988, only some 29 000 women out of a total of nearly half-a-million people were employed as permanent agricultural workers (salaried or hourly, full-time or part-time, excluding seasonal), representing an average 6 percent of the total permanent agricultural workforce (Table 10). The highest female participation was in Germany (16.7 percent of the workforce), and the lowest in Ireland (2.6 percent). Table 11 reveals that, with the exception of Spain, Portugal and Italy, women are far less likely than men to be employed as general agricultural workers, somewhat less likely to be employed in stock keeping (other than in Ireland, Italy and Portugal), and much more likely to be employed in specialized crops (e.g. horticulture, floriculture), which employs 72 to 95 percent of all female workers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Germany.

The relatively low participation of women in the permanent agricultural workforce, and their concentration in specialized crops, reflects discrimination and a cultural and ideological division of labour in agriculture which is stronger in central and northern Europe than in the south of Europe. Furthermore, Table 12 shows that female employment tends to be concentrated on larger farms, especially those having ten or more permanent workers. Women's average hourly wage is within 4 percentage points below that of men's, with the exception of in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom, where it is up to 20 percent inferior to men's average wage (Table 13).

Across the EU, women have lower overall labour force participation rates compared to men, higher levels of participation in part-time work, higher rates of unemployment and lower wages (nearly 25 percent below those of men) (Daly, 1991). Part-time work is by and large a female phenomenon; 85 percent of the part-time workforce in the EU is female. Forms of non-standard employment (zero hours contracts, casual and seasonal work, temporary work, homeworking and unpaid family work) account for a disproportionately high share of women's employment. In a majority of EU member countries, at least 10 percent of the female labour force is in temporary employment, with the highest rates in the Iberian countries and Greece. Outwork and homework are almost exclusively performed by women.

Wage inequalities differ greatly throughout the EU; Denmark has the lowest gap, followed by France. At the other extreme, women's wages are only two-thirds as great as those of men in the industrial sector in Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Women are more concentrated in the service sector and overrepresented in the low-paid workforce. Progress towards equal pay in the EU generally stagnated during the 1980s (Daly, 1991).

Rural women's employment is more likely to be part-time, lower skilled and lower paid than urban women's employment. In the United Kingdom, for example, fewer women are employed in professional occupations in rural areas in comparison with men, many are employed in jobs that do not make use of their educational qualifications, and they have less access to training and skill development (Little, 1991). In general, rural women's work is also more insecure and more often excluded from legislative protection, with fewer opportunities for career advancement.

Table 13 Average hours paid per month and women's average wages as a percentage of men's, permanent agricultural workers, Western Europe, 1988

Country	Avg. hours paid per month (men)	Avg. hours paid per month (women)	Avg. women's hours as percentage of men's	Avg. women's hourly wage as percentage of men's
Belgium	155	143	92.2	92.2
Denmark	173	149	86.1	99.8
FR Germany	191	177	92.6	87.0
Spain	425	407	95.8	95.7
France	182	175	96.1	94.9
Ireland	185	170	91.9	96.4
Italy	171	153	89.5	97.3
Luxembourg	184	136	73.9	96.2
Netherlands	166	169	101.2	80.6
Portugal	197	195	98.9	82.1
United Kingdom	206	193	93.7	89.4

Source: Derived from national data as reported in Eurostat (1990) Earnings in Agriculture 1988. Brussels, Luxembourg: CECA-CEE-CEEA.

Rural women and poverty in the EU

Since a key trend in Europe is towards concentration (regional, sectoral and among firms), the division between the richer and poorer countries and the more and less prosperous regions is expected to deepen, as are the divisions between women. Within the EU, large regional imbalances occur. Graph 1 gives the incidence of poverty in Western Europe in 1985, in percentages of households falling below the poverty line. Portugal had the highest incidence, followed by Spain, Ireland, Greece and the United Kingdom. Table 14 gives poverty rates by household group. In four out of the six countries where poverty rates are reported by economic activity of the household head, they are higher for farmers than for any other group (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal).

Table 14 also shows that, with the exception of the Netherlands, female-headed households have higher poverty rates than male-headed households, with the highest incidences of poverty among female-headed households occurring in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Spain. Several countries also have an unequal ratio of poor men to poor women. For example, in Germany and the United Kingdom there are between 120 and 130 poor women per 100 poor men. In Italy and the Netherlands the ratios are nearly equal, while in Sweden the ratio is reversed, with fewer poor women (90 to 93 women per 100 men). The existence of strong family ties (Italy), high rates of female employment (Sweden) and a strong system of social assistance (the Netherlands) appear to influence these ratios positively (UN, 1995). In general, rural women constitute one of the major groups most vulnerable to poverty in the Western European population -as members of poor farm families, as female heads of household and as off-farm workers.

Moving out of agriculture is one solution. However, women face several obstacles to becoming active in the formal economy:

· insufficient or inadequate education and training; lack of or insufficient retraining, education and vocational training programmes, lack of adequate information (e.g., extension, advisory);

· insufficient suitable employment in rural areas; low paid, low skill and irregular work sources;

· distance and transport problems where rural areas lack public transport facilities, making job markets inaccessible or placing an extra burden on family care activities in terms of time and energy;

· insufficient services and facilities such as affordable and nearby child and old age care facilities;

· unequal division of the work and responsibilities related to household and family;

· cultural habits (ideas and images about women, women's work, a good wife, mother and housewife, etc.) (Braithwaite, 1994).

Table 14 Poverty rates per household group as a percentage of national poverty rates (poverty line: 50 percent of national average equivalent expenditure), EU 12

Socio-economic classifications	BE	DK	GE	GR	FR	IR	IT	NL	PO	SP	UK
Headship
Male head	95	98	92	98	88	90		101	94	94	82
Female head	131	104	122	113	143	151		96	123	135	163
Economic activity head
Agriculture	-	277	-	156		110	-	142	141	-	144
Manufacturing	-	51	-	71		64	-	138	65	-	63
Construction	-	57	-	113		124	-	119	101	-	105
Gov't. services	-	35	-	-		48	-	28	57	-	55
Other services	-	36	-	53		55	-	72	49	-	63
None	-	193	-	131		174	-	116	134	-	168

Source: Eurostat (1990) Poverty in Figures. Europe in the Early 1980s. Table 5.2, pp. 42-43. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

In general, women in remote rural areas face more difficulties than women in the more urbanized rural areas with respect to education levels, education and training opportunities, suitable employment opportunities, quality of work, and work and cultural conditions. In the areas near to urban centres, women have relatively better opportunities to find work, training, information and adequate services and facilities (Braithwaite, 1994).

3.2 Women in agriculture in the CEEC

The former regimes in the CEEC promoted the principle of equal opportunities for women in employment. High female participation rates also reflected labour scarcities provoked by rapid industrialization, extensive use of labour in agriculture and industry, and demographic imbalances between men and women resulting from the Second World War. Given the persistent scarcity of labour, women and men had not only the right to work but the obligation as well (Rudolph et al., 1994:16).

Graph 1 Percentage of households in poverty, 1985

Source: Eurostat (1990) Poverty in Figures. Europe in the Early 1980s. Table 3.5, p. 27. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Table 15 Rates of participation in the labour force of women 40 to 44 years of age in various countries, 1950-1985 (percentage)

Region and country	1950	1960	1970	1980	1985
Central and Eastern Europe
Bulgaria	78.6	83.4	88.5	92.5	93.3
Czechoslovakia	52.3	67.3	79.9	91.3	92.4
German Democratic Republic	61.9	72.7	79.1	83.6	86.1
Hungary	29.0	51.8	69.4	83.2	84.7
Poland	66.4	69.1	79.5	83.1	85.1
Romania	75.8	76.4	79.5	83.2	84.7
USSR	66.8	77.9	93.2	96.9	96.8
Northern Europe	30.9	39.9	53.8	69.9	71.1
Western Europe	34.5	39.5	46.4	55.1	55.6
Southern Europe	22.4	25.3	29.7	35.7	37.1

Source: Kornai, 1992, p. 207. Reported in Barr, 1994, table 7-3, p. 126.

Policies promoted equality for women in education and training, while generous family benefits and maternity allowances permitted women to receive wages and remain in the labour force even while spending significant amounts of time at home (Jackman and Rutkowski, 1994:125-126). Low male wages also acted as an incentive for women to work, and a decent lifestyle usually depended on the two wage-earner family. Women's participation rates were therefore higher than those found in capitalist countries (Table 15).

The agricultural sector in the CEEC employed on average 17 percent of the female and 20 percent of the male labour force, in comparison with an average of only 7 percent in the EU (UNDP, 1995). The restructuring of agriculture, with its concomitant loss of employment, has therefore had a substantially broad and negative effect in the CEEC.

Women in the agricultural labour force

In spite of the policies to promote equality in employment, implemented under the previous regimes, in 1994 women outnumbered men in the agricultural labour force only in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia (Table 16). In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, female predominance in agriculture is related to the war, and in Albania male outmigration from rural areas in search of work. In Bulgaria, Poland and Romania sex distribution is nearly equal, whereas in the remaining countries the proportion of men working in agriculture is up to twice that of women. Data on women as a percentage of the total economically active population in the agricultural sector prior to the reform period were only available for five countries: Bulgaria in 1985 (49.1 percent), Czechoslovakia in 1988 (40.4 percent), Hungary in 1988 (39.8 percent), Poland in 1978 (49.1 percent), and Romania in 1977 (62.3 percent) (Hubner, et al., 1993: Table 8.5). With the exception of Romania, it appears that the situation prevailing in 1994 reflects fairly closely the situation prior to reform. Gender imbalances in the agricultural sector appear to be more related to the gender division of labour under the previous regimes than to changes that are taking place during the transition.

The statistics on employment in agriculture can be misleading, given that employment on cooperatives and state farms (now, cooperatives and large farm enterprises) consisted not only of work directly related to agriculture, but also work that was only indirectly related: administration; services (e.g., child care, laundry, dining facilities); and even non-agricultural industrial work which was assumed by these enterprises under state planning (see Table 17 for data from the German Democratic Republic in 1989). In Poland, for example, half of all currently existing cooperative farms are specialized cooperatives that obtain about 50 percent of their total income from processing, services and non-agricultural activities (Sawicka, 1995:2). Women predominated in these services and in administration, while their roles in agricultural production per se were often segregated. For example, women performed much skilled and unskilled labour in livestock and horticulture but less often worked in mechanized crop production (see Fink et al., 1994) on the GDR.

Women's participation in land reform

Virtually no data are available on women's participation as beneficiaries in the land reform process, nor on how many farms are headed by women. Legislation regarding succession and inheritance, land reform, access to credit and subsidies does not permit discrimination against women (Siiskonen, 1995:22). Women count among the heirs of former owners, among the employees of state and collective farms who have received shares of restructured enterprises, among current cooperative members and among those who have purchased or leased land. However, it is unknown how many women have claimed land, how many new land titles have been registered in women's names or, of the women who have received title, how many may have ceded it to their husbands, or leased or sold the land. In Poland, Sawicka (1995) reports that women currently manage about 20 percent of the farms in the private sector (which in total contains about 2 million holdings), but it is not reported whether this reflects the pre-reform situation or represents any change resulting from restructuring.

Table 16 Percentage distribution of the labour force by branch and sex, selected Central and Eastern European countries, 1994

Country	Agriculture		Industry		Services
	F	M	F	M	F	M
Albania	57	48	20	29	23	23
Belarus	13	26	36	45	51	29
Bosnia-Herz.	11	5	39	56	50	39
Bulgaria	12	12	43	55	46	33
Croatia	13	15	29	38	58	46
Czech Rep.	9	13	37	54	55	33
Estonia	11	18	34	49	55	33
Hungary	10	19	32	43	58	39
Latvia	12	19	33	47	55	34
Lithuania	10	23	35	47	55	30
Poland	27	27	25	45	48	28
Rep. of Moldova	25	37	27	34	48	29
Romania	17	18	46	55	37	27
Russian Fed	9	17	35	48	56	34
Slovakia	8	14	40	38	51	48
Slovenia	4	3	40	53	56	44
Ukraine	15	23	34	46	51	31

Source: UN (1995), Table 12.

One of the few case studies (in a village in Hungary) on gender and agricultural transformation reported that: "From landownership, women can derive... power to determine how the land will be used. It is however important to realize that the situation of landownership is quite new. Evidently everybody, man or woman, who could claim land did so. Nevertheless it is not sure whether the equal legal possibilities for landownership will be reflected in future practice... Sons [rather than daughters] are regarded as potential farmers who will continue the enterprise... Under these circumstances, the land will be turned over to the son. This might imply that in the future situation men will own the land".

Small private plots and home gardens continue to play an important role in the provision of vegetables, fruit, eggs, poultry and small livestock in all CEEC countries, for direct consumption by their owners as well as for local and urban markets. The importance of these plots to household subsistence has increased over the last few years as prices rose and income declined. For example, in Ukraine, home gardens constitute 13 percent of all farmland. The average size of subsidiary household plots doubled from less than 0.3 to 0.5 ha, and these plots now account for an estimated 30 percent of gross agricultural product. Most of the produce is self-consumed, while most milk and meat are sold directly to consumers (Lerman, et al., 1994:89f.). Similar increases in the size of household plots have been observed in the Russian Federation. Hungary has the highest number of these household plots, which are owned by both rural and urban populations, in the whole of Europe. Policy considerations also support the development of private plots into peasant family farms, e.g. in Belarus and the Russian Federation (Kornilov, 1990; Allakhverdiev and Kamilov, 1992). Women have always predominated in home garden production, and it can be assumed that their labour there is increasing.

Table 17 Employment sectors in agricultural enterprises in the German Democratic Republic in 1989 (percentage)

Employment sector	Men	Women	Total
Primary production	72.2	57.3	66.5
Engineering and ready-made work	3.7	2.0	3.1
Management	6.6	3.5	5.4
Administration	1.1	12.4	5.4
Child care	0.5	5.5	2.4
Other sectors	15.9	19.3	17.2
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: Fink et al. (1994), Table 1, p. 283.

Unemployment, social security and poverty

There is substantial evidence to suggest that farm women have been especially affected by rising levels of unemployment, decreases in the provision of social services and reduced levels of social security, and hence poverty and its social, political and economic consequences. Gender relations, especially those that determine that women are mainly responsible for domestic work and child care and have lower levels of education and skill, are working to farm women's detriment in both the short and long terms, and making them more vulnerable to poverty.

One of the immediate and most drastic effects of the implementation of the market reforms in the CEEC was an increase in unemployment: "The old system deployed labour inefficiently, and the introduction of hard budget constraints and competition leads to displacement of workers as firms reduce their workforce or close down" (Barr, 1994:79). By the end of 1992 unemployment in four out of five Central European countries stood at between 10 and 19 percent (Table 18). The Czech Republic presents the single exception, since its government has pursued very active policies to limit unemployment. Unemployment in the region is concentrated among unskilled workers, youth, women and minorities and, in contrast to Western Europe, is likely to be long-term (Fretwell and Jackman, 1994:167-169).

Women's labour force participation has not been affected by the transition; the activity rates of women aged 15 to 54 years remain high and are nearly as high as those of men (Paukert, 1994:1). This is partly because two incomes are required to maintain a family, and partly because the majority of women wish to continue to work, even if their husbands can provide sufficient income (Paukert, 1994:2; Rudolph et al., 1994; Fink et al., 1994.). In fact, surveys of women in Eastern Germany show that birth rates are declining in part because women are very reluctant to make use of their maternity benefits for fear that they will find themselves out of a job (Rudolph et al., 1994).

However, women have been more likely to become unemployed than men in the first years after the transition, and to remain unemployed for longer periods. There are several reasons for this. Under the former regimes, although women were encouraged to occupy a much broader range of occupations than is found in capitalist countries, occupational segregation in fact emerged. Women rarely had access to managerial positions and were concentrated in "feminine occupations" which offered more convenient working hours (Rudolph et al., 1994:18; Bozena, 1994). The failure of women to reach higher level decision-making positions and their concentration in certain branches and sectors are attributable to women's double burden; gender relations in the household did not change as women's labour force participation increased, so that women had to accept work that was compatible with their domestic obligations. Time use surveys carried out in the region indicate that women in the CEEC work longer hours in the home in comparison with their Western counterparts, even though their labour force participation is higher (UNDP, 1995:95-96).

Women in the CEEC are apparently less likely than men to become self-employed or start a business. For example, in the Czech Republic, 12.2 percent of employed men but only 5.3 percent of employed women are classified as "self-employed or entrepreneurs", and the proportion of males classified as such continues to grow, whereas for women it has stagnated (Paukert, 1994:3). ILO surveys in Bulgaria, Hungary the Czech Republic and Slovakia show distinct bias among company managers in favor of recruiting men. Finally, decreasing access to child care, lower physical mobility, less access to training and advisory services and less access to financial capital are other factors inhibiting women's re-entry into the labour force and their ability to develop their own enterprises.

Unemployment rates in agriculture were available for only a few countries (Table 19). Data from 1993/1994 demonstrate higher female unemployment in the sector, with the exception of Poland. In the Czech Republic, agricultural unemployment is relatively low (1.9 percent for men and 4.0 percent for women), whereas in Hungary and Slovakia it runs above 10 percent. It appears that higher female unemployment is related to gender segregation of activities in agriculture, where women's labour is more likely to become redundant than men's. It also stems from the fact that women constituted the majority of the workers in the administrative and service sectors attached to state farms and cooperatives (e.g. laundry, child care and dining facilities), which were very often

Table 18 Registered unemployment rates of females and males In various countries, by quarter, 1990-1993

Year and quarter	Bulgaria		Former Czechoslovakia		Hungary		Poland		Romania
	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M	F	M
1990	2.0	1.1	1.0	0.9	0.8	1.0	6.6	5.6	-	-
1991 1st	3.5	2.4	2.3	2.5	2.4	3.0	8.1	6.4	1.2	0.5
1991 2nd	6.3	5.5	4.0	3.6	3.3	4.2	9,6	7.4	2.3	1.3
1991 3rd	9.6	8.7	6.3	5.0	5.0	5.9	12.0	9.2	3.1	1.7
1991 4th	12.6	11.3	7.3	6.0	7.1	8.2	13.2	10.2	4.0	2.1
1992 1st	14.2	13.2	6.8	6.2	8.8	10.8	13.8	10.7	5.6	3.3
1992 2nd	14.8	14.7	5.8	5.1	9.9	12.2	14.6	11.1	7.5	4.4
1992 3rd	17.3	16.4	5.7	4.7	11.5	13.7	15.6	11.8	9.6	5.9
1992 4th	19.0	18.7	5.4	4.8	12.5	14.6	15.5	11.9	10.5	6.3
1993 1st	-	-	3.a	2.5a	11.6	16.1	16,1	13.0	11.7	7.7
	-	-	11.9b	12.1b
1993 2nd			3.2a	2.1a	11.4	15.4	16.8	13,1	11.6	7.2
			12.5b	12.4b

Source; CEC, 1993. Reported in Barr, 1994, Table 8-3.

a Czech Republic
b Slovakia reduced as a result of restructuring.

In East Germany in 1989, 39 percent of all agricultural employees were female but, by late 1992, 58.9 percent of all of the agricultural unemployed were women. "Women who show two or more of the following characteristics are particularly difficult to place in jobs: those who are older than 40 or 45 years, have a low level of school education, have no formal occupational qualifications or a low qualification level, have been working many years in agricultural production, lack mobility, do not own a car and are single parents" (Fink et al., 1994:290).

Rural women's educational level is generally below that of men's in Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria, whereas in Hungary and Poland it is somewhat higher (Table 20). Workers with lower education and skill levels are most likely to remain unemployed over the long term. Rural women's opportunities for training and re-skilling programmes depend on the specific country situation, but women will most likely have to change their occupations since agricultural employment is disappearing.

Women's unemployment presents a tremendous burden in the CEEC where families have traditionally depended on at least two incomes, costs of living are rising and wages are not keeping pace, and social safety nets, once the great strength of the planned economies, are disintegrating.

Women's participation in the labour force was purposefully facilitated by policies that offered support to women and families. Because of family benefits, poverty was rare. These benefits served to reduce income inequalities, which were far lower in comparison with capitalist societies. Women were able both to participate in the labour force and to spend time rearing children without experiencing reductions in income or losing their labour force status. However, the benefit structure also reinforced the gender division of labour within the household as "...the eligibility of fathers for maternity or child care allowances was generally more restricted" (Sipos, 1994:232).

In addition to having less access to benefits and social services in comparison with their urban counterparts, rural residents have lost access to services as a result of the ongoing reforms. Where formerly cooperatives and state farms guaranteed employment and provided free or subsidized housing, day care, health clinics, school meals, bonuses for future pensions, assistance in home repair, assistance to household plots and subsidized fuel, the decline in these services resulting from privatization has meant hardship to many (Euroconsult, 1995:113-127). Although, in general, minimal social security benefits have been maintained (Siiskonen, 1995:22), their scope is being narrowed and poverty and increasing inequality in income distribution now present major social problems. The reduction of day care for children has an especially distressing effect for women; those who kept their jobs must find alternatives, and those who lost their jobs may have more difficulty finding adequate re-employment when facilities are lacking or expensive.

Table 19 Male and female unemployment rates in the agricultural sector, selected countries in Central Europe, 1993-1994 (percentage)

Country	Male	Female
Czech Republic 1994	1.9	4.0
Hungary 1993	14.5	15.1
Poland 1994	3.8	3.1
Slovakia 1994	11.3	12.7

Source: Paukert, n.d., Table 10

Table 20 Educational level of men and women in rural areas of the CEEC in 1990 or 1991 (percentage)

Country	Sex	Low1	Medium2	High3	Total
Latvia	M	55	39	6	100
	F	58	35	7	100
Lithuania4	M	35	61	4	100
	F	49	47	4	100
Poland	M	88	10	2	100
	F	82	16	2	100
Czech Rep.	M	31	65	4	100
	F	53	45	2	100
Slovakia	M	40	56	4	100
	F	67	31	2	100
Hungary	M	81	15	4	100
	F	77	19	4	100
Slovenia	M	49	46	4	100
	F	65	30	5	100
Croatia	M	60	36	4	100
	F	75	22	3	100
Bulgaria4	M	73	25	2	100
	F	79	19	2	100

Source: Siiskonen, 1995, Table 5.1.

¹ Low = elementary school or less
² Medium = more than 1 but less than 3
³ High = university level.
⁴ Lithuania 1989, Bulgaria 1992.

In many parts of the CEEC, rural areas began the transition in a disadvantaged position. Infrastructure was less developed, education and skill levels were lower, access to social benefits was less, and incomes and standards of living were below those found in urban areas. Obviously, the effects of the transition on agriculture per se, on the level of social benefits and on the cost of living, mean that the situation in rural areas is deteriorating. Data from Poland indicate that 39 percent of all farmers' households were below the poverty line in 1991 (Table 21), a rate that is five points above the national average. It is also becoming apparent that the major burden of poverty in the CEEC falls on women: "In Russia, women outnumber men 2:1 among the unemployed and pensioners; and 94 percent of single-parent households are headed by a woman" (Barr, 1994:81).

4. Pluriactivity in farm adjustment

4.1 Trends in pluriactivity
4.2 Pluriactivity and risk
4.3 Farm women and pluriactivity

In both Western Europe and the CEEC, a large number of farm households have traditionally depended on a variety of sources of income derived from off-farm employment, para-agricultural activities, and non-farm related businesses and investments. Increasingly, the diversification of farm household activities (pluriactivity) is being seen in both regions as a means to deal with declining agricultural employment and incomes and with environmental problems associated with intensive farming, as well as a means to promote rural community development. Since little information is available on the CEEC, this section focuses on Western Europe.

Within farm households, pluriactivity provides supplementary incomes that may be critical to the viability of the farm, or which mean a higher standard of living for farm household members than could be obtained by farming alone, and absorbs redundant labour. Family farming, in turn, is seen as vital to the economies and infrastructure of rural communities (Thompson, 1990:158). However, pluriactivity presents only one of many possible strategies for better utilizing human and natural resources in agriculture. Other strategies used by farm households include farm product diversification, farming as economically as possible, reintegration of agriculture and nature and new forms of farmer/consumer cooperation (van der Ploeg and van Dijk, 1995). To date, pluriactivity and these other strategies appear to benefit substantially mainly those regions and households that are easy adjusters - i.e. that have access to the financial, educational and other socio-economic resources necessary to make use of opportunities.

Table 21 Poverty and real income in Poland, 1989-1991

Categories of households	Decrease in real per caput income	Poverty rate
		1989	1991
Workers	33.3	15.8	38.1
Mixed	41.0	7.9	21.2
Farmers	51.6	17.2	39.4
Pensioners	11.6	36.2	33.0
Total	41.5	17.3	34.4

Source: Milanovic, 1993. Reported in Barr, 1994, Table 10-4, p. 235.

The Common Agricultural Policy is beginning to stimulate pluriactivity as a means to maintain farms, stabilize or increase rural employment, enhance living standards and improve landscapes in the countryside. This reinforces and reflects trends that have been occurring over the past decades as farm households adjust to new social and economic conditions. A clear process of differentiation is occurring among households as a result of the strategies pursued, where the actors concerned attempt to counterbalance the dominant trends and policies that favor the male-dominated vanguard farm model.

The incentives that lie behind these trends are very diverse. When income derived from crop or livestock production is insufficient, markets change or new environmental regulations take effect, farm households may turn to alternative farming strategies, niche markets and other para-agricultural activities or off-farm employment. Environmental concerns, the need to produce sound and reliable quality products, dissatisfaction with stressful living and working conditions, cultural attachment to the countryside and farm values, the need of women for their own labour domain on or off the farm, and the need to have more control over one's own labour and the products of that labour, are also important incentives.

4.1 Trends in pluriactivity

Although there have always been regions where pluriactivity was common among farm households, processes of diversification of agricultural and non-agricultural activities are intensifying and becoming a part of farming over much of Europe. Sometimes local environmental resources, traditions and cultural heritage are exploited to produce specific services and goods for niche markets. For example, in the United Kingdom: "Whilst small enterprises cannot compete in volume markets, they can perform well in these niche markets. Their indigenous, nostalgic, pure, country image is not only popular with consumers, but also with the multiple retailers..." (Thompson, 1990:160-161). Local, middle-class rural markets, seasonal tourist industries and regional identities provide opportunities (ibid: 163-164). Examples are provided by: cheeses, wines, olive oils or other products made according to local tradition, knowledge, skills and reputations; high-quality vegetables and fruits; dried flowers and medicinal plants; and services requiring rural natural resource amenities such as on-farm restaurants or tea houses serving local specialities.

Agrotourism (holiday farms, bed and breakfast), offering leisure activities such as tennis courts, fitness clubs or riding schools, is a well-known strategy, as are nature conservation and biological production (Lane and Yoshinaga, 1994). Off-farm employment, pensions, agricultural subsidies and payments or national or supra-national relief funds, and financial investments outside agriculture constitute part of these strategies as well.

Table 22 presents the results of surveys on farm adjustment carried out in subregions of the EU in 1991, giving the composition of income sources for farms in the richest and poorest fifths of the total surveyed. It shows that high dependence on agriculture as a source of income can be found within both rich and poor farm households, while pluriactivity is not confined to poorer farm households. Comparing these results with surveys carried out in 1987 reveals that the proportion of farms with a high dependence on agricultural incomes decreased from 25 percent to 21 percent over the period, while the proportion of households having at least one pluriactive member rose from 57 percent to 60 percent (Bryden et al., 1993:225). The percentage of households receiving social transfer payments, most of which are derived from old age pensions, also increased to 47 percent. In all areas there was also a decrease over the period in the commitment of household labour to agriculture (Bryden et al, 1993: 228). "Only one-quarter of sampled farm households rely solely on income from agriculture and one-third of households commit 95 percent of labour resources to agriculture. It is the norm rather than the exception to seek other gainful activity (OGA)" (Bryden, et al., 1993:232).

Table 22 Sources of income for richest and poorest farm households, EU survey, 1991 (percentage)

Agricultural dependency	Income composition type	Quintile 5 (rich)	Quintile 1 (poor)
High	More than 95 percent from agriculture	42.4	26.0
High	Mainly agriculture (more than 66 percent)	18.9	14.3
Medium	33 to 66 percent agriculture	21.5	30.0
Low	More than 66.6 percent unearned	0,7	16.1
Low	More than 66.6 percent farm-based OGA	1.9	0.0
Low	More than 66.6 percent off-farm OGA	10.2	6.5
Low	No domestic income source	4.4	7.2
Total		100 (440 cases)	100 (440 cases

Source: Bryden et al., 1993, Table 8-1, p. 224.
OGA: Other gainful activity.

The same survey data showed that, in 1987, 14 percent of all farm households engaged in para-agricultural activities, and this number increased between 1987 and 1991. However, for the majority of farms the mean percentage of income from agricultural transformation declined over the period (Bryden et al., 1993:240-241).

"Para-agricultural incomes remain of small significance to total household income.... However, this...is not reflected in labour use. Para-agriculture in 1991 continued to absorb a considerable level of farm household labour: 19 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women in the central couple of the farm household were involved in para-agricultural work" (Bryden et al., 1993:237).

The lack of correspondence between labour invested and income produced is probably caused by the irregular nature of these activities which may use "spare" labour resources, with consequent low productivity. The decline in income from transformation may be the result of increased regulations and concentration in wholesale and retail markets, which may make small farm transformation less viable (Bryden et al., 1993:241). Table 23 shows the distribution of para-agricultural activity by study area.

4.2 Pluriactivity and risk

Research on farm pluriactivity shows that diversification is not easy and entails many risks. Training, access to financial resources, input and output markets and services, appropriate rural infrastructure and complementary activities are all essential to successful enterprise development. The modernization strategy of the post-war era did not stimulate the creation of small non-agricultural businesses, and support agencies, service provision, information infrastructure and other prerequisites have been slow to develop (Thompson, 1990:159; Bryden et al., 1993:241). "Farm tourism policies have thus far not been very successful since these must be linked with rural development activities at the community level" (Bryden, et al., 1993:241).

Small business failure is extremely common among the general population, and farmers do not have any special advantage: "....the farmer embarking on a food processing enterprise, for example, should not expect to need any less training than a food processor who has decided to start farming" (Thompson, 1990:158). Research in the United Kingdom showed that start up risks and business development (research, production, marketing, promotion and distribution activities) present special difficulties for small farmers, as does reinvesting profits back into the enterprise when income from the activity is needed (Thompson, 1990:162).

4.3 Farm women and pluriactivity

Farm women in Western Europe are important actors in these processes of change (Journal of Rural Studies, 6(4); Hendriks and Klaver, 1995; Ventura, 1994; Bock, 1994). Women play a crucial role as innovators and entrepreneurs, for example, in agrotourism, food processing and the production of local quality products, by creating or making use of niche markets. A niche market requires a try-out period in which experience is gained and benefits hardly meet costs. Women are often Interested in these activities because of the flexibility they offer with regard to their domestic roles, and may be more willing to run the risks associated with enterprises that often begin as hobbies. Apart from supporting the farm enterprise, these activities offer farm women economic self-reliance, a career of their own, a means to reap the fruits of their formal education, as well as self-expression and social contacts - all of which provide strong motives for having an off-farm job or initiating a small business.

Table 23 The distribution of any para-agricultural activity by context

Study area grouping	Crop transformation	Livestock transf.	Accomodation/catering	Recreation and sport	Retailing	Forestry
Group A	36	32	6	0	40	2
Group B1	6	2	22	20	12	5
Group B2	31	22	0	1	15	4
Group C1	3	20	49	60	11	2
Group C2	24	12	23	15	22	87
Total Cases (percentage)	100 9%	100 9%	100 2%	100 1%	100 6%	100 3%

Source: Bryden, et .al., 1991 .Table 9-4, p. 239.

Group A: Agriculturally dependent rural areas with poor agricultural structures.

Group B1: Areas of intermediate dependence on agriculture with good agricultural structures.

Group B2: Areas of intermediate dependence on agriculture with poor agricultural structures.

Group C1: Areas of low dependence on agriculture and good agricultural structures, mainly in the European "core".

Group C2: Areas of low dependence on agriculture and poor agricultural structures, often in mountainous or less-favoured areas in richer regions of the European "core".

Off-farm work continues to be the most important form of pluriactivity for farm households, and women are major adjusters both in this area and in the development of other gainful activities. The surveys on farm pluriactivity revealed two predominant trends. On large economically secure farms, only women work off-farm, predominantly in professional jobs. On other farms, women may work to provide household income and extra capital for the farm which men operate. The presence of off-farm work tends to be related to age and education levels. Well educated young or middle aged women are five times as likely to take off-farm work than less educated women". Where both the man and the woman work off-farm, farm size is smaller and "households are often preparing to exit from agriculture" (Bryden et al., 1993:250). These new strategies involve a redefinition of social identities and changing gender relations as well. By actively initiating or participating in alternative activities, farm women contribute to the maintenance of their farms and their lifestyles and to slowing down the trend towards depopulation of the countryside.

5. Environment, ecological agriculture and green consumerism

5.1 Environmental problems related to agriculture
5.2 Organic agriculture and green consumerism in western Europe
5.3 Women and sustainable agriculture and food systems
5.4 Prospects for sustainable agriculture in the CEEC

In response to the problems caused by the agricultural modernization strategies pursued in both Western Europe and the CEEC, the growth of organic and ecological agriculture, on the supply side, and "green consumerism", on the demand side, represents part of the more general move towards diversification within agrofood systems, and is directed specifically at the environmental damages and diet and health risks associated with intensive modern agriculture.

In the past, farmers were seen as the natural managers of resources and society in the countryside. Over the last decade, this role has been challenged by environmental organizations, consumer and recreational groups, the tourism industry and others who have new claims to make on rural resource management and who often focus their criticism on farmers (de Bruin and Roex, 1994; Tovey, 1994). In the Netherlands, as elsewhere, this criticism has led to proposals for a strict separation between agriculture and nature management, where a small group of vanguard farms would use a fraction of the current farm area to achieve the current volume of production, and the remaining nature management functions for tourism, conservation and recreation would be turned over to public or private non-farm enterprise (de Bruin and Roex, 1994). This contrasts sharply with a view of farmers as "an important social group with a positive role to play in countryside management" (Tovey, 1994). The latter position recognizes the existing heterogeneity of farming practices and styles, and the essential role to be played by farmers as local land users in the development of sustainable alternatives (see van Mansvelt and Stobbelaar, 1995, for recent case studies).

5.1 Environmental problems related to agriculture

Environmental problems caused by intensive agriculture include soil erosion, salinization, contamination from nitrogen, phosphate and crop protection agents, landscape standardization, biological diversity loss, and loss of primary natural resources. In Western Europe, soil erosion is a problem mainly in the areas bordering the Mediterranean sea and in Alpine regions, and can be contained by conservation and minimum tillage. Salinization is particularly a problem in Spain, but also occurs in Austria, France and Greece, and threatens many EU river basins as well as the coastal lowlands of northern Europe. In the CEEC, Hungary and the former USSR have the highest incidence, and Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and the former Yugoslavia are also affected.

Over-fertilization of coastal waters caused by agricultural and urban runoff is causing oxygen depletion and fish suffocation in the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas, as well as in the Danube river basin (Avalon Foundation, 1994). Phosphorus saturation of farmlands is predicted to occur widely in several countries in the EU, which could result in serious eutrophication of streams and lakes. Nitrogen use represents a great threat to drinking water; the EU recommended levels are exceeded in almost all EU countries in areas of intensive agricultural production, and similar problems are evident throughout the CEEC (NSCGP, 1994:45; Avalon Foundation, 1994). The use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and soil disinfectants can poison both animals and humans, and reduce biological diversity (Avalon Foundation, 1994:46). The expansion of intensive agriculture has also contributed to much loss in the diversity of plant and animal species and an increase in the number of endangered species caused by the loss and fragmentation of habitat, pollution and invasion of competing species.

Alternatives for sustainable agriculture include "nitrogen-fixing crops, integrated pest management and recycling of agricultural waste...[which] can be promising in the highly productive lands of Europe". Across Europe, the use of both nitrogen fertilizers and crop protection agents can be significantly reduced without adversely affecting production (NSCGP, 1992:14). Restriction of the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides can be accomplished through the application of taxes which could also subsidize other efforts to promote sustainable agriculture (NSCGP, 1992:47; Lampkin, 1994), by decreasing the intensity of agricultural land use or converting to organic farming. Refraining from manuring in field margins and maintaining hedgerows can positively affect biological quality and contribute to landscape diversification (van Mansvelt and Stobbelaar, 1995). Nature conservation can be promoted by extensive agriculture up to a point, and conservation efforts that require a relatively undisturbed environment can also be achieved through planning that integrates agriculture and nature conservation (NSCGP, 1992:49).

5.2 Organic agriculture and green consumerism in western Europe

Organic farming eliminates the use of chemical crop protection agents and chemical inputs in animal production. Research is beginning to demonstrate that it also decreases the amount of nitrogen loss in comparison with conventional agriculture, increases species diversity, and enriches landscapes (Avalon Foundation, 1994; van Mansvelt and Stobbelaar, 1995). "Organic farming has the potential to provide benefits in terms of environmental protection, conservation of non-renewable resources, improved food quality, reduction in output of surplus products and the reorientation of agriculture towards areas of market demand", which are also general goals of the CAP policy reforms of 1992 (Lampkin, 1994:165).

Western Europe both produces and imports significant quantities of organic food to meet its current year-round and seasonal demand. The organic agriculture movement originated in Europe in the early decades of this century. One of its founders was a progressive woman farmer from the United Kingdom, Lady Eve Balfour, who initiated what became one of the most important organic farming associations in Europe - the Soil Association, Balfour had both university education in agriculture and practical farming experience (Tate, 1991:5). Her book, The Living Soil, argued on the basis of scientific evidence for the superiority of organic over chemical methods (Clunies-Ross and Cox, 1994:57).

Organic farming places large demands on farmers and orients the entire farming system; it requires "sound rotation, manure and compost from other organic farms, no synthetic chemicals or pesticides, homeopathic or anthroposophic animal medicine, and inspections" (Tate, 1991). In spite of this, farmers are increasingly inclined to adopt or convert to organic agricultural practices, although the organic sector is still very small; less than 0.5 percent in all countries except those where government financial support has been forthcoming, such as Germany and Austria, with 2 to 3 percent (Lampkin, 1994). The German Government subsidizes producers for five years to change over to organic production as part of the EU programmes oriented towards reducing agricultural surpluses, and the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland also support conversion. In Denmark there has been a very rapid change towards ecological production (IKC, 1995). Organically farmed land grew from approximately 120 000 ha in 1985 to nearly 600 000 ha in all of Europe in 1993 (Lampkin, 1994).

However, production over the entire EU is growing relatively slowly. Some 38 percent of 29 000 farmers responding to a survey in the United Kingdom indicated that they would consider organic farming but fear that the higher prices for organic produce, which currently compensate farmers for the decreased yields to be expected from conversion, will not be sustainable in the long term (Lampkin, 1994) The relatively less developed infrastructure for marketing and supplies also acts as a constraint (Tate, 1991).

Although people in Western Europe are preoccupied with their health and are demanding safer food, the share of biological or organic food in the market is still small and is growing at a relatively slow pace. Markets tend to be restricted because of the relatively high prices of organic food and more difficult access. While organic products are still mainly sold in street markets and speciality shops, in some countries (e.g. the United Kingdom, Denmark and Germany) they are now offered on a larger scale in supermarkets so that access is easier and somewhat more affordable. Increasing specialization and cooperation among producers has been one of the outcomes of the growth in markets.

5.3 Women and sustainable agriculture and food systems

Women are important actors in the move towards organic or ecological agriculture, and gender relations are part of the reason. First, as the main caretakers within the family, women have major responsibility for family health and are likely to be more concerned than their husbands with unhealthy working conditions on farms (e.g. those related to the use of pesticides and herbicides). Second, farm women also probably assess the value of food produced on the farm from other than a strict commodity perspective, placing greater emphasis on food quality (Sachs, 1991). Third, farm women's lives are not as tied up with farming and the style of farming. Men's reputations as "good farmers" (e.g. vanguard farmers) are at stake and a switch to organic or biological farming may be considered as odd or the result of bad farming (Tate, 1991). Women, on the contrary, have a lower stake in current farming practices and can be more critical about current production methods and more receptive to alternative methods.

In the Netherlands, women stress controlled growth, safe production methods, quality production and quality of life in rural areas as far as production and future development of the farm is concerned (de Rooij et al., 1995). Research carried out in Italy shows that it is predominantly women who buy and market biological products (Miele, 1994). Farm women are also stimulating sustainable agrofood systems. For example, the Netherlands Association of Country Women (the largest such association in the country, whose members include farm women and other rural women) centred its activities for 1992-1995 on the theme "Critical consumption, sustainable production", around the links between healthy food and a healthy environment, organic farming, food packaging, energy consumption and north-south relations (NAC, 1994). Research suggests that women farmers are more ready adopters of alternative, sustainable farming methods. Women also participate in environmental and consumer organizations and movements that press for sustainable agriculture and healthy food.

Nevertheless, the conversion to organic or ecological agriculture may entail costs for farm women, as a result of the higher labour requirements arising from the substitution of external inputs, changes in the composition of production (e.g. multiple cropping) and on-farm processing and direct marketing. Research in Germany indicates that labour costs are nearly twice as high in organic farming as compared with conventional farms, whereas in Denmark organic farms use about twice as much labour per hectare as conventional farms (Padel and Zerger, 1994:110; Dubgaard, 1994:124). The supply of this additional labour and the lower yields in comparison with conventional systems are largely responsible for the higher production costs on organic farms. Whether or not the conversion to organic or ecological farming means greater autonomy and material benefits for women depends on how this additional labour force is mobilized and, when household labour is the source, what trade-offs are entailed in terms of domestic, on-farm and off-farm tasks and opportunities, and what new unpaid labour requirements for men and women mean in terms of household security, equity and social differentiation. There is virtually no research on the subject to date (Howard-Borjas, 1996).

New awareness among food consumers and male and female farmers implies the re-evaluation of farming that were considered until recently as traditional or backward. Research shows that it may be in these traditional farming systems that women most fully exercise their roles as farmers and resource managers, as well as labourers, with the benefits and disadvantages that these entail, which depends on the relations prevailing within the farm household as well as in the macrosocial and political environment.

5.4 Prospects for sustainable agriculture in the CEEC

Most environmental problems in the CEEC are caused by industrial production, urban energy consumption, mining, leaking pipelines and inadequate sewage, leading to air, water, and soil pollution. Environmental problems are also attributable to large-scale, monoculture farming and intensive animal husbandry that have led to reduced soil fertility, salinization and water pollution. Furthermore, in Ukraine, radioactive contamination caused by the Chernobyl disaster in 1985 made vast areas uninhabitable and food grown there poisonous. Farming on a smaller scale, mixed farm units and the clean-up of polluted areas will be important steps towards sustainable agriculture (Priebe, 1991; Petrikov, 1990).

The possibilities for the development of more sustainable forms of agricultural production in the CEEC are perhaps greater at this moment than at any time in the recent past or near future:

"The region has at the moment unique challenges and chances. Economic and social changes are at present being implemented in many of these countries very rapidly. They give room to think in a very fundamental way about methods of agriculture, about environmental effects and... how to modify agricultural methods to make them more sustainable" (Avalon Foundation, 1994:25).

The conversion to organic agriculture, the extensification of production, the removal of marginal lands from production and the promotion of integrated farming/conservation efforts such as agrotourism offer immediate and real possibilities to halt the depopulation of rural areas and improve rural habitats, revitalize cultures, diversify income opportunities and promote sustainable integrated rural development (Cifric, 1992; Lane and Yoshinaga, 1994; Avalon Foundation, 1994).

Within the CEEC, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have initiated efforts to stimulate such development. In the Czech Republic, a priority programme is focused on the non-agricultural use of agricultural products for bio-fuel, ecological motor oils and degradable plastics. Organic agriculture is supported through farmer subsidies in cooperation with five organic farmers' associations (Avalon Foundation, 1994:185) and other programmes support extensification of agriculture and grassland management for erosion control (erosion seriously threatens nearly 32 percent of the land in the Czech Republic) (Avalon Foundation, 1994:22). In Poland, organic agriculture was introduced in the 1930s, but more wide-scale promotion began only in the 1980s, and the first organic farmers' association (Ekoland) was initiated in 1989. The movement has been largely inspired and encouraged by private initiatives (NGOs and academics), and the government Is only now beginning to investigate the concept of ecological agriculture (Avalon Foundation, 1994:143-144).

In Hungary, an ecological farmers' association, Biokultura, was founded, and large-scale organic agriculture focused on exports to Western Europe began in 1987 with Dutch cooperation. The failure to develop an internal market, together with increasingly difficult access to Western European markets, has led to problems of oversupply. Other initiatives for more sustainable forms of agrofood system development include the promotion of integrated pest management, the establishment of the Hungarian Organic Council and the Danube Bioforum, which promote organic standards and consumption of organic foods, and the development of a network of ecovillages and ecotourism (Avalon Foundation, 1994:65-67). Nevertheless, throughout the CEEC, with the possible exception of the Czech Republic, major constraints to the development of organic and ecological agriculture include lack of markets, advisory and extension services, infrastructure and, above all, promotional policies.

There is virtually no information on the role of farm women in the move towards more sustainable forms of agriculture in the CEEC. Women's ecological groups have a strong urban base and are linked more to issues of critical consumption, such as Transparent Action in Hungary which campaigns against waste (overuse of plastics, toxic household products, etc.), or the Prague Mothers which has organized seminars for Czech NGOs on household ecology and demonstrated for better air quality in the city. The Mama '86/Kiev Mothers Initiative for Child Protection set up an independent laboratory to examine children's health problems resulting from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, distributes healthy food and medicine and sets up environmental education activities (Milieukontakt Oosteuropa, 1994:60). The women-run Polish Ecologic Club (PKE) is attempting to deal with the problems of local food contaminated by heavy metals from industrial production in Upper Silesia. PKE developed a system to import organic food from uncontaminated regions, including a wholesale firm and retail shops as well as a project to test locally produced food for contamination (Milieukontakt Oosteuropa, 1994:6).

An east-west initiative, the Eco-Agro-Tourism Project of the Dutch organization, European Centre for Ecological Agriculture and Tourism, promotes sustainable tourism and helps small farmers in the CEEC who practice organic agriculture. It also supports economic development and income generation for farm women, and has strong environmental education and nature conservation components. It is currently cooperating with farmers in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, and plans to expand to Slovenia and the Baltic states (Milieukontakt Oosteuropa: 22).

These examples indicate that there may be good prospects for achieving greater political participation and representation of rural women by interrelating issues of agriculture, environment, food quality and nutrition, social security and equity. The experiences in Western Europe, as well as the activities of NGOs and informal clubs in the CEEC, show that sustainable food production and green consumerism can have an empowering effect for women in the economic as well as political spheres and can help to link urban and rural women, as well as women all over Europe.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Across Europe, farm women are major actors and principal adjusters in the processes of transformation occurring in food and agricultural systems. In spite of existing gender biases, women are a vital and active force in the development of strategies to make farming and rural life viable and environmentally sustainable.

On the one hand, there is a trend towards a stronger role for women on the farm and in the professional agricultural world. In Western Europe, this is the result of women's initiatives in developing pluriactivities, rising educational levels and changing aspirations related to emancipation, as well as of negative trends leading to male outmigration and the feminization of agriculture. In the CEEC, it is caused by both the education and employment policies of previous regimes which created roles for women as professionals in the agricultural sector, and the reform process which has created a private farm sector where women are no longer employees but farmers and co-farmers in their own right. However, these women face the same problems as male farmers in an era of great uncertainty and declining incomes, as well as additional problems arising from their multiple burdens and eroding access to resources, social benefits, services and employment.

On the other hand, there is a trend in both regions towards women moving out of agriculture. In Western Europe this results from farm household adjustment to transformations in the agrofood systems which are making many farms in the relatively disadvantaged regions less viable and which are consequently decreasing agricultural employment. It is also caused by the negative effects on women of farm modernization and the pull of better job opportunities for women off-farm which are the result of the combined effects of better education, favorable labour market conditions and sufficient support services. In the CEEC, it appears that most women are not moving out of agriculture of their own accord; they have lost agricultural employment as a result of the reforms and have few possibilities to regain employment, especially if they are low skilled, and thus they and their families are increasingly impoverished.

In both Eastern and Western Europe, social security and social services are critical to farm women, who constitute a group that is especially vulnerable to poverty, especially when they head households, come from poor farm families or are unemployed or aged. Within the ED, the legal position of men and women farmers is still unequal with respect to basic social security provisions. In the CEEC, women and men have equal legal status, but access to social security and social services has declined at the same time that unemployment has increased and wages have declined relative to the cost of living.

In the EU, the Women's Commission of COPA (the umbrella organization for farmers' associations in the EU) has sought to use the directive that deals with the principle of gender equality (EC Directive 86/613) to obtain recognition of the professional status of farm women with all the rights that are implied. Lacking professional recognition means unequal access to social security provisions and inadequate legal and social protection. Farm women are seeking support during illness or pregnancy, disability insurance and old-age pensions, as well as adequate and affordable facilities and services, including child and elderly care. To date, the directive has not produced clear results, largely because some countries wish to keep social regulation to a minimum. COPA's Women's Commission is still actively pursuing the subject, as is the Women's Rights Commission of the European Parliament; both are working to get the directive redrafted and searching for ways to apply it in different member countries. The visibility of women's real contributions on the farm is a prerequisite and, therefore, the statistical redefinition of work is required (Boeraeve-Derijcke, 1994).

Within the CEEC, it is critical to farm women that family benefits be continued in order to relieve poverty, equalize income and support women in their roles as both breadwinners and domestic carers. The problems that especially low-skilled farm women face with regard to re-employment should be placed high on the policy agenda, since retraining and educational opportunities, possibilities for self-employment through rural enterprise creation and farm extension and advisory services are skewed in favor of men.

Rural development policy in the EU is based on the principle of sustaining viable rural communities. By both overcoming the weaknesses of specific rural areas (depopulation, declining agricultural activities, the lack of services, peripherality and remoteness) and strengthening their attributes (diversity, human capital, natural environment, traditions, culture, heritage) this approach "would take account of all factors which provide the best chance of achieving full potential of any region" (van Depoele, 1995:19). The same can be applied to the CEEC. Rural economies should become capable of supporting the local population, not only in financial terms but also by ensuring the provision of all the other elements that contribute to the quality of life. The EU intends to achieve this through support for diversification of the rural economy, farmer pluriactivity and provision of services, and overcoming social and economic barriers to development (Van Depoele, 1995:19-20). The current measures include specific financial support, programmes to encourage entrepreneurship, adaptation to operating under market conditions, training and assistance in management and marketing, support for production and promotion of quality foods. Policies must ensure equality of opportunity for men and women and equal access to mainstream activities.

In addition, specific support for rural women who want to be involved in formal economic activities should be created. There should be much more detailed, recent and exact information about the different groups of rural women in the different rural areas of Western Europe and, especially, in the CEEC regarding their problems, needs and experiences in relation to participation in rural economic activities. Priority should be given to information about:

1 the gender-specific consequences of changes in the rural economy;

2 opportunities for women in formal employment and the conditions under which they work;

3 women's specific knowledge and skills that could be used in the local economy;

4 the potential of growth sectors in the rural economy for rural women (tourism, diversification, information technology, environment); and

5 the obstacles and possibilities for women to participate in rural development at the local level and to manage that development (Braithwaite, 1994: 84).

6 Interventions are needed in both Eastern and Western Europe to improve access to employment, education and training in skills that are relevant to the changing rural economy (e.g. in organic agricultural methods, rural enterprise development).

7 Support services and facilities should be improved (child care and old age facilities, information, transport, training and educational opportunities in the vicinity, health centres, etc.).

8 Women's working position should be improved (equal pay for equal work) and the legal and social position of family workers should be made secure (social security, rewards, pregnancy and maternity leave and benefits, representation).

9 Within the CEEC, the continuation of family benefits must be ensured to relieve poverty, equalize incomes and support women in their roles as both breadwinners and domestic carers.

10 In both regions, high priority should be given to re-employment especially for low-skilled farm women, ensuring retraining and educational opportunities, possibilities for self-employment through rural enterprise creation and, in the private sector, farm extension and advisory services.

It is important that improvements be made simultaneously; for women it is of no use to improve employment opportunities when there are no child care facilities or inadequate transport, or when work schedules are not flexible. Neither is it of use to stimulate women's self-employment when they do not have access to credit, training, extension, information and advice. Women's access to opinion- and decision-making bodies should be improved and women should be actively stimulated to participate in these (Braithwaite, 1994).

Increasingly, old policies of modernization are giving way to new concepts of sustainable rural development in both the EU and the CEEC, which are reorienting both agrarian policy and spatial planning. New roles that farm men and women have assumed and new strategies that they have adopted both as adjusters to and initiators of change are increasingly being recognized as fundamental to more sustainable agrofood systems and rural development in Europe. However, in both European regions, powerful political forces continue to impede positive change and policies continue to lag behind reality. As a consequence, healthy, environmentally sound and socially just agrofood systems, which are now conceivable in the minds and indeed the practices of many Europeans, continue to constitute an illusive goal.

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