ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on data from interviews with 20 women agricultural leaders. Interview participants were selected across a range of industries and types of agricultural boards. The majority of women interviewed had become board members by appointment rather than by election. For women with young children, their differential gendered position was most significantly emphasized in terms of responsibilities for domestic work and childcare. When women organized their domestic responsibilities so that they did not intrude on their position as leader, thus emulating the masculine notion of manager as someone unencumbered by family duties, other aspects of their difference from the male board members was given emphasis. Women suggested that they were not just different from their male counterparts, but also from other women. The chapter describes the strategies used by agricultural women leaders to perform as a member of 'the third sex'. The 'gender management strategies' used by women leaders were those that aimed to neutralize their femininity and sexuality.
