| The purpose of the study was to empirically investigate women's environmental orientations and roles in the farm enterprise and household. The theoretical model used to guide the research was based on a combination of elements from social learning theory and gender socialization theory. The dependent variable was advocacy for adoption of soil and water conservation practices. The independent variables related to the social learning component of the model included the following: value placed on economic factors when making farm level decisions; level of information pertaining to soil and water conservation practices; and perceived risks to the environment, human health, and food from applying farm chemicals. The independent variables pertaining to the gender socialization component of the model were (1) orientation towards protecting natural resources and (2) participation in agricultural production work, activities related to the farm business, and household work. Questionnaires were distributed to farm women in Ohio and Minnesota to examine the factors that influence participation in environmentally responsible behaviors, at the farm level.; Discriminant analysis was used to test the theoretical model, which showed five variables as significant predictors of advocacy for the adoption of soil and water conservation production systems. These variables included participation in production work, value placed on economic factors when trying new production systems, level of information pertaining to soil and water conservation systems, involvement in childcare, and orientation towards protecting natural resources. Although five variables were found as significant in the analysis, the measure of the strength of association between the dependent variable and the independent variables in the analysis was relatively low. Therefore, the theoretical model had very limited utility for predicting which respondents would be advocates of soil and water conservation systems. |
