Successful farms—in the public imagination, agricultural policy, and more—tend to be highly profitable and operate at extremely large scales. Research has shown that women are less likely to operate these types of farms, possibly due to their preferences and lifestyle choices. There is evidence, however, that these gaps are additionally the result of differences in access to resources due to gender discrimination. Patterns of inequity in land inheritance and other resources limit women's farm size and choice of crops, and thus their opportunities to farm at larger, more profitable scales. Nonetheless, women farmers also employ creative strategies to make farming work for them. Our study uses 2017 Census of Agriculture data to compare women and men farmers at 7 different farm scales, revealing gendered strategies and comparing men and women farmers on equal footing. This presents a more nuanced picture of women's participation in farming at various scales. Overall, we find that within farm scales, women are often doing just as well as men—usually with fewer or different resources and approaches. Women's unbalanced representation at each farm scale, however, helps to explain why women are not always envisioned as “real farmers” in the popular conscience.

中文翻译：

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公平比较：美国七种规模的女性农场和男性农场☆

成功的农场——在公众想象、农业政策等方面——往往利润丰厚且经营规模极大。研究表明，女性经营此类农场的可能性较小，这可能是由于她们的偏好和生活方式选择所致。然而，有证据表明，这些差距也是性别歧视造成的资源获取差异造成的。土地继承和其他资源方面的不平等模式限制了妇女的农场规模和作物选择，从而限制了她们从事规模更大、利润更高的农业的机会。尽管如此，女性农民也采用创造性策略，让农业为她们服务。我们的研究使用 2017 年农业普查数据来比较 7 个不同农场规模的女性和男性农民，揭示性别策略并在平等基础上比较男性和女性农民。这更加细致地描绘了妇女参与不同规模农业的情况。总体而言，我们发现在农场规模内，女性的表现往往与男性一样好——通常资源和方法较少或不同。然而，妇女在各个农场规模上的代表性不平衡有助于解释为什么妇女并不总是被大众视为“真正的农民”。