Role of Women & Youth in Family Businesses

Abstract

Future challenges of global food security and poverty alleviation due to a growing world population and climate change, have to be overcome. Possible family farm businesses, particularly agroecological ones, can offer an economic, environmental and social solution. In this research the social sustainability and future possibilities for family farm business is researched. Till now women and youth are excluded from field research and policies. In the literature is expected women and youth have a less enabling environment than men. However, after the field research of this thesis, is found women and youth have equal enabling environment. This research only focusses on women and youth, and looks at how family farms can create an enabling environment for women and youth to make decisions in the family farm. The hypothesis is that the family farm can create an enabling environment for the decision making of women and youth by offering economic, environmental, and social benefits. Than asked is how family farms can create an enabling environment for women and youth to make decisions in the family farm? Several cases in the Southern province of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul, have been studied. After adopting an actor-oriented approach combined with a livelihoods perspective testing the hypothesis, concluded can be indeed the family farm creates an enabling environment for decision making. Components are added as well to the definition of enabling environment, namely responsibility for tasks within the family business and financial independency.