The diversification of actors engaged in agriculture: From the viewpoint of gender studies

This paper aims to reveal that the sustainability of each household and the sustainability of a rural community are complementary to each other by studying the polarization of female farmers, the diversification of ways of farming, and the transformation of male farmers and rural communities. The key word is the diversification of actors engaged in agriculture. The author would like to show that, under the transformation of the existing social structure, women are beginning to play a significant role in their farming families, rural communities, and modern society. This paper studies family or small farms in mountainous as well as urban areas, most of which are not covered by white papers or government censuses. The reason is that the diversity of people engaged in farming and their interaction create and maintain sustainable farming and rural communities. The paper also aims to reveal that a new organizing principle of rural communities is emerging, with the result of creating an open society. From the historical point of view, through the diversification of female farmers and the transformation of male farmers, individuals, families, and rural communities are all gradually changing together. From the spatial point of view, exchanges between rural and urban communities and moves from urban to rural communities facilitate the diversification of actors engaged in agriculture. In modern Japanese society, some communities have promoted gender equality, seeing a bright future in anti-modern agriculture. Those who live in such communities have some features in common: they imagine freely, have many social relationships, do not always behave according to instrumental rationality, distance themselves from modern values, participate in altruistic activities, and are confident in their own views and ways. The viewpoint of gender studies and the focus on small, family farming allow us to find these new realities in today's Japan.