The Internalized Sexism of Eight Women in School-Based Agricultural Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5032/jae.v66i4.3034Keywords:
Internalized Sexism, Agriculture Teachers, FeminismAbstract
Women have always been included in agriculture in some capacity, but the power they hold in these agricultural settings has altered over time. Women have had an increased presence in agricultural education preparation programs since the 1990s, and their presence within agricultural classrooms has been increasing since then. The shifting numbers of women in agricultural education over time have given rise to questions concerning gender bias and how it may be present for women in agricultural education. Much of the existing research on women in agricultural education focused on changing demographics and the barriers women face when entering the field. Examining the impact that internalized sexism has on women agricultural educators' oppression of the self is necessary to understand the full extent of agricultural education’s existing oppressive structures. The purpose of this study is to address the current gap in research on internalized sexism in agricultural education through the analysis of interviews from eight women agricultural educators. Four of the seven dialogs of internalized sexism—powerlessness, incompetence, invalidation, and derogation—are utilized to examine how internalized sexism manifests in the interviews of eight women agricultural educators. While data has been presented in specific categories, the process of data analysis revealed that the distinction of dialogs was not as clean-cut as anticipated as the coding process revealed an incredible amount of thematic crossover. Recommendations and implications are provided to encourage moving forward with more equitable research for marginalized and diverse populations.
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