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Abstract
Until now agriculture has been considered a male domain. Although approximately one third of agricultural work is done by women, only very few of them run a farm (of their own). This paper focuses on female farm operators. Ten problem-centred interviews were conducted with female farm operators to examine the motives prompting women to decide on the position and job of farm operator and how they cope. Qualitative content analysis shows that the decision is influenced by various motives, the primary one being an interest in agriculture. The way women cope in this male domain is largely assessed as good. They are holding their own, although each of them is also experiencing difficulties which, however, are not only linked to the fact that they are in a job traditionally occupied by men.