Gender Orders in German Agriculture: From the Patriarchal Welfare State to Liberal Environmentalism

This article employs insights from the feminist welfare state literature and the feminist literature on global governance to illustrate ways in which global restructuring is implicated in the construction of gender relations in German agriculture. I argue that changes in modes of regulation have entailed a movement from a patriarchal agricultural welfare state to an internationalised regime of liberal environmentalism with egalitarian pretensions. I adduce empirical and statistical evidence to illustrate the differential impact of regulatory modes on women's participation in the agricultural labour force, divisions of labour and power. My purpose is to show the gender subtexts of market regulation and offer a rationale for mainstreaming gender into agricultural trade negotiations.