L’evoluzione della presenza femminile nell’agricoltura italiana ed i nuovi tratti dell’imprenditoria delle donne

This paper analyses the evolution of the women work in agriculture, focusing on the development of female entrepreneurship. Agriculture Census data and other statistical sources allow to underline the relevant transformation of female presence in agriculture: from a total submission to the male direction up to the ’50, the industrial transformation of the Italian economy, including agriculture, promoted a progressive emerging of women relevance in agriculture also as entrepreneurs. Further, the paper underlines the increasing importance of the females among the new multidimensional forms of entrepreneurship. This modern and dynamic trait of female enterprises is driven and supported by the new direction of EU agricultural policy. However, the paper stresses also the weakness of women enterprises. Indeed, a comparison of the female and male enterprises highlights a weaker performance of the first ones in term of dimension of enterprises, revenues and education.