CULTURAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL THOUGHT (MA)
Diane is a family farmer from Southern Alberta. She also researches and practices ways to develop more inclusive environments for women on family farms, in agriculture, and agricultural business. Concerned with the political, social and cultural structures hindering women and girl’s full participation in the agriculture, Diane is asking people in agriculture to challenge themselves to create new space for women and girls to enable everyone to reach full their potential in farming and rural communities. Diane offers both workshops and presentations on this timely topic of women's inclusion in agriculture.
Services
Women's Inclusion Workshops or Presentations, Rural Women Studies, Family Farms
Diane McKenzie (MA 21) is combining her rural roots and her research interests with the intention to make an important contribution to the future of agriculture.
By examining and discussing the culture of women in agriculture through generations of women on family farms, women can and do, identify repetitive social behaviors holding women in place. Speaking up, questioning current concepts of equality, and/or workshopping to broaden understanding within the agricultural community can lead to productive change. Challenges to the status quo for men and women, girls and boys are central to removing the roadblocks for women and girls to reach their full potential in agriculture, agriculture business, agricultural boards and governing institutions. It is difficult to change ourselves or change much of anything unless we're aware of the system we are working in. If we're aware of how we participate contemporarily we can imagine a different way of participating in the future. Using academic research and boots on the ground experiential knowledge, the aim is to identify and discuss publicly, the possibilities of egalitarian and inclusive change and challenges within the agricultural industry and within the family farm.
