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Alternative food networks and food provisioning as a gendered act

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  • Rebecca Som Castellano

Abstract

Alternative food networks (AFNs) are exemplified by organic, fair trade and local foods, and promote forms of food provisioning that are ‘corrective’ to conventional agriculture and food (agrifood) systems. Despite enthusiasm for AFNs, scholars have increasingly interrogated whether inequalities are perpetuated by AFNs. Reproduction of gender inequality in AFNs, particularly at the level of consumption, has often been left empirically unexamined, however. This is problematic given that women continue to be predominantly responsible for food provisioning in the US, and that this responsibility can lead to negative physical, psychological and social outcomes. Using quantitative methods and data from the 2012 Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Issues, this paper examines the extent to which gender inequality in the division of labor is reproduced in AFNs by focusing on the potential persistence of gender inequality in food provisioning among AFN participants. Findings suggest that among AFN participants, particularly those utilizing local food systems, women, compared to men, remain predominantly responsible for food provisioning, spend more time in food provisioning, and engage in more food provisioning from scratch. This research confirms that food provisioning remains a gendered act amongst AFN participants, calling attention to the persistence of gender inequality in AFNs. The paper concludes by suggesting that AFNs are positioned as a place to create change, albeit small scale, in the gendered division of household labor in the US, and provides some practical suggestions for how this might occur. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Rebecca Som Castellano, 2015. "Alternative food networks and food provisioning as a gendered act," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(3), pages 461-474, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:32:y:2015:i:3:p:461-474
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-014-9562-y
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    1. Martinez, Stephen W. & Hand, Michael S. & Da Pra, Michelle & Pollack, Susan L. & Ralston, Katherine L. & Smith, Travis A. & Vogel, Stephen J. & Clark, Shellye & Lohr, Luanne & Low, Sarah A. & Newman, , 2010. "Local Food Systems: Concepts, Impacts, and Issues," Economic Research Report 96635, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
      • Martinez, Steve & Hand, Michael & Da Pra, Michelle & Pollack, Susan & Ralston, Katherine & Smith, Travis & Vogel, Stephen & Clarke, Shellye & Lohr, Luanne & Low, Sarah & Newman, Constance, 2010. "Local food systems: concepts, impacts, and issues," MPRA Paper 24313, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    3. Rebecca L. Som Castellano, 2017. "Receiving Assistance and Local Food System Participation," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Carolan, Michael, 2018. "Lands changing hands: Experiences of succession and farm (knowledge) acquisition among first-generation, multigenerational, and aspiring farmers," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 179-189.
    5. Vassalos, Michael & Gao, Zhifeng & Zhang, Lisha, 2016. "Who are the CSA Consumers and how to Promote CSA to more Consumers?," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235872, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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