A Study of Gender Differences in the Use of Farm Management Software

Abstract

This paper reports on an interpretive case study which seeks to contribute to an understanding of the interaction between agricultural decision support systems (DSS) and women's roles as farm partners on Australian family cotton farms. More specifically, this paper provides advice to software designers and developers on how to make farm management software more suitable for the diverse farming community by exploring the social aspects of gender differences in farm management and technology use. The study reveals growing support for the theory of individual gender differences in situations where women growers perform certain tasks to which they are neither essentially predisposed nor socially compelled. In so doing, they enhance their value as members of the family farm management team.