How the Farm Bill’s Gendered Architecture Gatekeeps Who Gets Paid, Who Belongs, and What Counts

• In Event: Sociology of Sexualities Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: Sexuality and Gender I

Abstract

At over 800 pages and touching nearly all aspects of United States’ food systems, the U.S. Farm Bill is an understudied, neglected, and misunderstood legislation. In major court cases and in previous research, the Farm Bill has been documented as a site of gatekeeping: a policy that preferences some over others through cyclical processes rooted in inequities. Our research centers gender and sexuality as a lens to understand the Farm Bill, which builds on recent research that has blazed a trail toward better understanding relationships among gender, sexuality, and agriculture. We critically review the Farm Bill and its connected programs and policies using Intersectional Feminist Policy Analysis, a framework for questioning how policies and policymaking may be gendered. We found that the U.S. Farm Bill acts as a gendered gatekeeper, influencing (1) who gets paid (perpetuating inequitable eligibility requirements and upfront costs); (2) who belongs (signaling gendered norms and failing to value the care economy); and (3) what counts (limiting what is considered an agricultural issue through the absence of policies). With the expiration date for the 2018 Farm Bill approaching, we offer a critical analysis where gender and sexuality equity – not injustice – becomes the predictable policy outcome.

Authors

• Emily Talkow, University of Vermont

• Isaac Sohn Leslie, University of Vermont