9406595 JAROSZ Determination of the total costs of agricultural production traditionally has been difficult because considerable labor contributed by women working on farms has not been compensated or has been reimbursed at very low wages. As women have increased their participation in non-farm labor markets and as agricultural industries have changed in recent decades, the role of women in farm production has been transformed, but little scholarly attention has been given to the form and implications of those changes. This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate changes in the agricultural work of women in the fresh apple industries of Washington state. Apple production and processing has become more labor intensive and more capital intensive over the last half century. Special attention in this project will be given to identifying differences in the responses of women in different ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and age cohorts to changes in the industry. These differences will be identified through analyses of census data and a mail survey of women working in north central Washington. More detailed information will be obtained through intensive interviews and focus-group discussions of both Chicana and Anglo working women. In order to ascertain whether preliminary conclusions are valid, project findings will be discussed at community-based workshops. This project will provide new insights into the impacts of technological and organizational change on workers employed by agricultural businesses. This case study of female workers in the Washington apple industry will employ a complementary set of research methods to contribute new empirical knowledge about social change, with special emphases placed on the roles of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class. As a doctoral dissertation research improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research ca reer.
