Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Investigation of Farming Women's Work in Washington's Apple Industry

9406595 Jarosz传统上很难确定农业生产的总成本，因为在农场工作的妇女贡献的大量劳动力没有得到补偿，或者以非常低的工资得到了补偿。近几十年来，随着妇女更多地参与非农劳动力市场和农业行业的变化，妇女在农业生产中的作用发生了变化，但学术界很少关注这些变化的形式和影响。这一博士论文研究项目将调查华盛顿州新鲜苹果行业女性农业工作的变化。在过去的半个世纪里，苹果的生产和加工变得更加劳动密集型和资本密集型。在这个项目中，将特别注意确定不同种族、社会经济阶层和年龄段的妇女对该行业变化的反应的差异。这些差异将通过对人口普查数据的分析和对在华盛顿中北部工作的妇女的邮寄调查来确定。将通过对奇卡纳和盎格鲁职业妇女的密集访谈和焦点小组讨论来获得更详细的信息。为了确定初步结论是否有效，将在社区讲习班上讨论项目结果。该项目将对技术和组织变革对农业企业雇用的工人的影响提供新的见解。这一华盛顿苹果业女工的案例研究将采用一套补充的研究方法，以提供关于社会变化的新的经验性知识，特别强调性别、种族和社会经济阶层的作用。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将为有前途的学生建立强大的独立研究能力提供支持。

9406595 JAROSZ Determination of the total costs of agricultural production traditionally has been difficult because considerable labor contributed by women working on farms has not been compensated or has been reimbursed at very low wages. As women have increased their participation in non-farm labor markets and as agricultural industries have changed in recent decades, the role of women in farm production has been transformed, but little scholarly attention has been given to the form and implications of those changes. This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate changes in the agricultural work of women in the fresh apple industries of Washington state. Apple production and processing has become more labor intensive and more capital intensive over the last half century. Special attention in this project will be given to identifying differences in the responses of women in different ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and age cohorts to changes in the industry. These differences will be identified through analyses of census data and a mail survey of women working in north central Washington. More detailed information will be obtained through intensive interviews and focus-group discussions of both Chicana and Anglo working women. In order to ascertain whether preliminary conclusions are valid, project findings will be discussed at community-based workshops. This project will provide new insights into the impacts of technological and organizational change on workers employed by agricultural businesses. This case study of female workers in the Washington apple industry will employ a complementary set of research methods to contribute new empirical knowledge about social change, with special emphases placed on the roles of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. As a doctoral dissertation research improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research ca reer.