Gendering Agricultural Education: A Study of Historical Pictures of Women in the Agricultural Education Magazine

Abstract

The emergence of women agriculture teachers over the past 50 years has opened opportunities while revealing issues which females still face in agricultural education. Issues such as lack of female role models, gender stereotyping, and gender bias have been documented in agricultural education research. The purpose of this study was to explore the history of women’s roles in vocational agriculture through the photographs of the Agricultural Education Magazine from 1929-1969. We utilized visual research methods to explore how women were represented in the photographs. We found 355 photographs with women in the pictures, 70 of those photographs met our criteria for visual analysis, and 17 photographs were included in the manuscript. The photographs showed women working in highly gendered roles as well as women breaking into typically male dominated roles. The photographs highlighted some of the first female vocational agriculture students and female student teachers. These women should be viewed as important pioneers in vocational agriculture. Nonetheless, the women in the photographs had various gendered roles which often conflicted with their acceptance in the profession.