South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2019 Undoing Gender: An Analysis of How Women Communicate Within the Agricultural Industry Shala R. Larson South Dakota State University Follow this and additional works at: https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd Part of the Agriculture Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, and the Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons Recommended Citation Larson, Shala R., "Undoing Gender: An Analysis of How Women Communicate Within the Agricultural Industry" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3162. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/3162 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNDOING GENDER: AN ANALYSIS OF HOW WOMEN COMMUNICATE WITHIN THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY BY SHALA R. LARSON A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science Major in Communication Studies and Journalism Specialization in Communication Studies South Dakota State University 2019 iii This thesis is dedicated to the women who wake up at daWn and are a vital part to the agricultural backbone of this country, all first-generation college students that have grit in their step and a sparkle in their eye for the future, and for the man who told me that because of my economic background, I would undoubtedly drop out of college by the time I was 19. Cheers. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Where to begin? As a first-generation college student, earning a college education alone was a huge task, let alone continuing on to graduate school. The experience of graduate school has stretched my academic boundaries beyond imaginable. Because of the School of Communication Studies and Journalism, I am a critical thinker, an eloquent written and verbal communicator, a better community member, and am now able to clearly see what I am made of. This process has taught me grit, and because of that, I know that I can go forth and conquer whatever is in front of me. I want to first and foremost, thank the members of the Communication Studies faculty. I never felt unwelcome to ask a question or vent my issues whether academically related or otherwise. Every person in that hallway will ask you how you are and truly mean it. Thank you to my graduate student colleagues and friends for helping keep my head above water at times in the academic setting, but also making sure that we had fun and de-stressed occasionally to keep us sane. Thank you to my fluffy bundle of joy, Briggs. Your butt wiggles, fluffy tail, and snuggles got me through some of the hardest times. Thank you to my family for understanding that I couldn’t always be around the dinner table for events, and often had to leave home early on long weekends because I had to put my nose to the grindstone and get back to Brookings. But most of all, thank you to God for giving me the strength and grit I needed for this process. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... viii INTRODCUTION ............................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................ 5 Background of the Problem ..................................................................................... 9 History of Women in Agriculture ............................................................................ 9 Exclusion of Women in Agriculture ...................................................................... 11 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................. 16 Definitions ............................................................................................................. 17 REVIEW OF RESEARCH ................................................................................................ 20 History of Women’s Communication and Gender Biases .................................... 20 Gender Biases ........................................................................................................ 22 History of Women in Agriculture and Gender Perception .................................... 27 Women’s Exclusion from Agriculture Roles ........................................................ 28 A Rise of Women in Agriculture ........................................................................... 30 Narrative Theory ................................................................................................... 32 Muted Group Theory ............................................................................................. 36 METHOD .......................................................................................................................... 42 Research Design .................................................................................................... 42 Sample ................................................................................................................... 43 Sample Method ...................................................................................................... 44 Instrumentation ...................................................................................................... 45 Analysis ................................................................................................................. 45 vi Limitations ............................................................................................................. 47 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 48 Description of Workplace Communication ........................................................... 49 Gender Essentialism .................................................................................. 49 Expectations of Women’s Gentleness and Compassion ............... 50 Expectations of Women’s Nurturing ............................................. 50 Expectations of Detail Orientation ................................................ 52 Experiencing Sexism ................................................................................. 53 Perceptions of Lack of Knowledge ............................................... 53 Sexism with Baby Boomers .......................................................... 54 Confronting Sexism ................................................................................... 55 Women’s Unified Efforts .............................................................. 55 Women Doing Masculine Tasks and Using Masculine Communication Styles ......................................................................................................... 56 Describing Evidence of a Muted Group ................................................................ 58 Gender Essentialism .................................................................................. 58 Groomed to be Masculine ............................................................. 58 Women Needing to Prove Themselves ......................................... 60 Experiencing Sexism ................................................................................. 61 Sexist Jokes ................................................................................... 61 Male Preference ............................................................................. 62 Confronting Sexism ................................................................................... 63 Confronting Sexist Jokes ............................................................... 63 vii Women Banding Together ............................................................ 64 Women Doing Masculine Tasks and Using Masculine Communication Styles ......................................................................................................... 64 Decisions Made from Birth ........................................................... 65 Necessity of Assertiveness ............................................................ 65 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................... 67 Summary ................................................................................................................ 67 Implications ........................................................................................................... 84 Limitations and Future Discussion ........................................................................ 85 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 87 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 88 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................... 97 APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................