Majda Černič Istenič

Do rural development programmes promote gender equality on farms? The case of Slovenia

The necessity of gender equality in agriculture has been identified as a relevant political issue and incorporated into strategic documents and programmes of the EU. However, until now, not much has been examined about the actual contribution of these policy actions and programmes to the everyday life of farm women; there is a considerable gap in the data about women in farming across Europe, particularly for new member states. The article addresses this issue by focusing on the situation of gender equality on farms in Slovenia. Pertaining to two measures of The Rural Development Programme 2004–2006 – the Setting Up of Young Farmers and the Early Retirement of Farmers – the aim of the analysis is to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of these two measures at family farms in terms of their development capacities and their inclination towards gender equality. Results based on the survey data ‘Generations and Gender Relations on Slovenian Farms 2007’ revealed the above-mentioned measures did indeed reach those family farms that showed better development capacities in terms of economic and demographic conditions. However, the farms did not show significant development in terms of gender equality as examined through division of work and decision-making on family farms. The rigidity in gender statuses and roles on family farms is explained and discussed through the issue of unequal access of women to farmland ownership and agricultural education, and through persistently weak institutional support to increase political participation and power for farm women.The necessity of gender equality in agriculture has been identified as a relevant political issue and incorporated into strategic documents and programmes of the EU. However, until now, not much has been examined about the actual contribution of these policy actions and programmes to the everyday life of farm women; there is a considerable gap in the data about women in farming across Europe, particularly for new member states. The article addresses this issue by focusing on the situation of gender equality on farms in Slovenia. Pertaining to two measures of The Rural Development Programme 2004–2006 – the Setting Up of Young Farmers and the Early Retirement of Farmers – the aim of the analysis is to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of these two measures at family farms in terms of their development capacities and their inclination towards gender equality. Results based on the survey data ‘Generations and Gender Relations on Slovenian Farms 2007’ revealed the above-mentioned measures did ind...

Who Is For or Against the Park? Factors Influencing the Public’s Perception of a Regional Park: A Slovenian Case Study

To effectively organize cooperation with stakeholders in the planning and management of protected areas, it is important to understand their perception of the protected area and the factors influencing that perception. This study identifies the factors and their impact on locals’ perceptions of the KamniškoSavinjske Alps Regional Park in designation, Slovenia. The results of discriminant analysis show that the local population that supports the park has significantly different views of its potential from the population that opposes it. In addition, the local population that supports the park was personally notified by the founders about the plans, while the opposing population was not. Therefore, the former is more trustful of the founders’ procedures and there is more cooperation with all interest groups than with the opposing population. Contrary to our expectations, higher education, place of residence, and gender do not affect the population’s support for the park. These results confirm that a consideration of the factors that affect the local population’s perception of the protected area contributes to more effective involvement of stakeholders in the process of park creation, which is important for the successful management of protected areas.

Goriška Brda (Slovenia) – sustainable natural resource management for the prosperity of a rural area

Favourable future perspectives for rural regions need a balanced enforcement of competitiveness and social cohesion. The Goriska Brda region (72 km2) is situated by the Slovenian-Italian border. Certain areas in Goriska Brda are subject to intensive land use change, mainly from forest and grassland into vineyards. Future challenges in water, soil and land management are closely connected with the researchers’ knowledge in dealing with the sustainable use of natural resources and the development of future socio-economic stability. An integrative combination of socio-economic analyses (e.g. SWOT) and environmental simulations (e.g., a SWAT model) will be made and confronted or upgraded with stakeholder experiences and knowledge, always in dynamic dialogue with regional policy, resulting in consensus.

Intergenerational Assistance on Family Farms in Slovenia: Expectations and Practices

Abstract The ageing in farm population in Slovenia is accompanied by a diminishing interest of the younger generation in farming. Hence, measures for early retirement of farmers and assistance to young farmers were introduced in 2004 and 2005. Some results of two ensuing studies are presented here: the survey Generations and Gender Relations on Slovenian Farms (2007) and ethnographic study on intergenerational solidarity (2009). The survey findings reveal that through intergenerational assistance farm population, especially the beneficiaries of both measures, shows specific characteristics compared to other observed groups (nonfarmers): stronger reliance on their own family resources and weaker dependence on state resources. The survey findings are further upgraded by the ethnographic results, explaining more in-depth from a life-course perspective the complex dynamics and background of intergenerational assistance on family farms.

Book Reviews : JORGEN MARREE AND PETER P. GROENEWEGEN Back to Bismarck: Eastern European Health Care System in Transition Avebury, Aldershot, 1997, v-xi + 126 pp., £32.50 (hbk), ISBN 1 85972 617 8

are non-existent. The UK is another interesting case, in so far as the early 1990s saw a revival of the male-breadwinner model strictu sensu, that is the enforcement of fathers’ economic responsibilities towards their children and their children’s mother, irrespective of the relationships with the latter and making state support conditional on the naming of the father. The Scandinavian countries have also