Bibliography of Literature on Women in Agriculture at the Rutgers University Libraries

The Rutgers University Libraries' largest collection on women in agriculture is located at the Mabel Smith Douglass Library. Douglass Library serves students and faculty at Douglass College, the largest women's college in the United States, and Cook College, the Land Grant College of New Jersey, and the Mason Gross School of the Arts. The collection on women in agriculture includes profiles on farm women, anthropological studies and case studies, particularly from the Third World. Most of this literature is written by women. When Ester Boserup, an economist, published her book, Women in Economic Development m 1970, she was one of the first to focus on the relationship between women's role and economic development. Boserup documented the connections between certain land use patterns and agricultural techniques and its relationship to division of labor based upon gender. Experts on both colonial and contemporary agriculture have viewed crop production as being a male oriented task because that reflected the traditional European concepts. Consequently, women in underdeveloped countries were rarely involved in the development process. They were not permitted to participate in training programs for agricultural modernization and development and their contributions to agriculture have been ignored. Rural women were deprived of their right to land ownership as a result of land reforms instituted by male oriented European administrators. Boserup's study initiated a considerable amount of debate and research on the participation of women in world agriculture. The books cited in the bibliography reflect women's roles and contributions to agriculture in the industrialized countries and the developing countries. These books have been acquired for the Douglass collection to serve the disciplines of agriculture, rural sociology and women's studies. A growing role for women in agriculture is anticipated in the future as the struggle for women's rights grows and receives more serious consideration in the world arena.