Abstract :
This paper is concerned with gendered embodiment of agricultural work, particularly the connection between womenʹs gender identity and the body at work. Focussing on how the body enters into relations with the tools of work, four processes are identified by which womenʹs bodies, work and machinery are incorporated into each other and give each other meaning. In the first category womenʹs embodied competences are merged with the qualities of machinery much the same way as men. The second shows how women work to uphold a definition of their bodies as feminine despite the fact that they operate machinery. The third process shows that when machine work is incorporated into farm womenʹs traditional work on the farm, neither the definition of womenʹs bodies nor the tractor change. Finally, when women do not operate machinery as part of their work, the traditional conception of gendered, embodied farm work is maintained. The analysis establishes that there is no one to one relationship between work and the meaning of the embodied self, and highlights the complex and ironic relationship between machinery and femininities.
