Abstract/Summary

This study identifies the ‘typical’ employment barriers women faced within the Agri-Food sector from 1920-1960 in England, along with how they worked within (and around) such barriers to create unique opportunities to provide localized change through education, social networks, Government policy, and public opinion. The most prevalent barriers being identified as legal constraints, a miss-match between education and employment, and public identification of feminine versus masculine spheres of influence. A review of the historiography of women in the Agri-Food sector and literature surrounding the chosen case-study social networks (the Women’s Land Army and Women’s Institutes) indicates that the inclusion of Food and Nutritional Sciences has been relatively ignored, something this study begins to address. The thesis considers the use of a more inclusive gender critical framework for Mixed Methods researchers combining material culture analysis, critical gender historical analysis, ethnography, and a unique cookery book literary discourse analysis to compare the structure and function of the networks, their relationships with the State, and public perception across time. The results showed that women’s social networks that worked independently from Government oversite, yet partnered with the State on specific societal needs, enacted the most employment opportunities and changes in public opinion during the study period. We also found that such opportunities were greatest in the Distributive Trades and Food sector, compared to the Agricultural sector. However, we also found that there is a discrepancy in Government funding of education for women in the Agri-Food sector, and that historical (and current) promotion of women in higher education (university degrees) does not corelate to employment trends. Likewise, we found that there is a higher intergenerational knowledge transference around food and nutrition within social networks than without, and that such knowledge has dropped drastically over time. The contribution of women’s social networks in the larger scheme of Agri-Food employment, while hitherto largely overlooked, we found to be a primary driver for the removal of employment barriers. As such, from an employment perspective, the promotion of gender critical policies that promote such networks, especially around workforce development and rural development need to be considered when designing future Agri-Food sector policies.