여성농업인의 경제·사회적 역할 제고방안(1/2차연도)

Abstract

오늘날 여성농업인은 농업생산의 주요 인력일 뿐만 아니라 지역 전통식품의 손맛을 간직한 기능보유자이고, 안전한 농식품 생산에 신뢰가 기대되는 경영인으로 그 중요성이 새롭게 부각되고 있다. 특히 여성의 ‘생명 보살핌’ 역할에서 비롯된 농산물 가공이나 농업의 가치를 다음 세대에 알리는 체험 및 교육농장의 운영은 여성농업인에게 경쟁력 있는 분야이고 농업의 부가가치 창출에 기여하고 있다.

여성농업인이 농업 노동시간 증가와 경영 참여의 정도가 증대하는 경향은 농업의 노동인력뿐만 아니라 경영인력으로 역할이 커지고 있다는 의미이다. 따라서 실태 조사를 통해 여성농업인의 생활과 일에 관계된 제반 조건을 살펴보고 경영인으로 활동 가능성과 잠재 능력을 도출하는 것은 여성농업인의 경영인력 육성화 정책에 도움이 될 것이다.

2년에 걸쳐 진행될 이 연구는 1차년도에 농업부문과 지역사회에서 여성농업인이 참여하고 있는 경제·사회 활동의 실태를 규명하여 여성농업인의 현재 위치를 검토하고 농업부문과 지역사회에서 여성농업인의 경영 능력을 육성하기 위한 정책과제를 도출하는 데 그 목적이 있다.

Background of Research This study aims at developing political tasks to identify the current status of women farmers and develop their management capability in the agricultural sector and the local communities, by closely examining the current conditions of economic and social activities in the agricultural sector and the local communities in which they participate. These days, the women farmers’ participation in the agricultural sector has increased, as main producers, managers, and non-farming income earners, agricultural products salespeople, and farming CEOs. The fact that the hours of labor by women farmers and the degree of their participation in agricultural management have increased signifies that the women farmers’ role as management personnel as well as labor force has increased.

Method of Research A questionnaire survey and a "village survey" were conducted to examine the actual state of economic and social activities of women farmers. The target audience of the questionnaire survey were women farmers who reside in rural areas (Eup/Myeon) and who are aged 19 years or more and less than 65 years. This is because the purpose of this research lies on fostering women farmers as business managers. A total of 702 women farmers were sampled and the sampling has a reliability of 95% with a maximum sampling error of ± 3.70%. The survey, which was entrusted to Research & Research, Inc., was conducted through face-to-face interviewing with a structured questionnaire. The sampling was allocated to different regions (Gyeonggi/Gangwon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Gyeongsang) for a target audience of 175 women farmers per region, and it was conducted in consideration of rural village types (suburban, plains, mountainous), cultivated items, farming scale, and life cycle. The survey period was from July 20, 2012 to August 8, 2012. In the case of the village survey, the survey was conducted directly by the researchers using the same questionnaire as the one used in the nationwide survey. Since it is difficult to find a common ground for each village as cultivated items and farming scale vary among farm households, three villages were selected based on the assumption that agricultural off-season is an objective indicator.

Research Results and Implications When the entire farming process from production to sales is assumed as 100%, the women farmers, except those in their 20s and 30s, take care of 50% or more of it. It shows that the larger the farming scale and the higher the facility farming rate, the more the women farmers participate in farming. Change in the women farmers’ roles is related to the socio-economic structure. Through the industrialization process, the society in general has deepened the tendency of pursuing the individualism and equality. In agriculture in particular, this family relationship has been converted to a collaborative relationship in which each member’s role in farming is decided depending on his or her specialty and talent and the family perform their roles in collaboration with each other. As agriculture expands its scope from the primary industry into the secondary and the tertiary industries, the women farmers have emerged as the principal party of the secondary and the tertiary industries instead of remaining as the assisting party of the primary industry. As the feminine qualities such as care and consideration for others are the basic elements that ensure competitiveness of the secondary and the tertiary industries which are the processing and the service industries, the women farmers have more opportunities to exert their qualities are CEO. To provide such opportunities to the women farmers is the focus of future training for the women farmers.

Researchers: Eun-Mee Jeong, Sang-Jin Ma, Ja-Hye Min Research period: 2012. 1. - 2012. 10. E-mail address: jeongem@krei.re.kr