The household

Commonly called “the house”, the household is the physical space where the dairy-producing family lives. It is a shared area and its care (cleaning, decoration, distribution of furniture, inspection of necessities, among others) are par excellence feminine responsibilities. In all the families analyzed the woman is the one responsible of performing these tasks. It was possible to identify supplementary or complementary house chores carried out by children who are circumscribed to setting the table for meals, washing dishes, making beds, among others.

The action of “serving the meal” could be the most important and essential activity within this physical space. Providing daily food to the family nucleus turns out to be hard work. The 30 women analyzed have developed clearly identifiable strategies where the first thing that stands out is storing food; also milk collecting, transforming dairy, followed by the exchange of animals and seeds, and activities restricted to the milpa, as is expressed by testimonies obtained in the communities.

“Every morning, before my husband delivers the milk, I keep a couple of liters for my children’s breakfast”. Woman, 61 years, El Tixhiñú, Estado de México.

“Once a month I set milk apart to prepare cookies and sweets for my husband and my children”. Woman, 40 years La Concepción Ejido, Estado de México.

Through the activities of “serving the meal”, women express their role of care-takers. For ^{González-Ortiz (2005)}, this is constructed emphatically during childhood and when the woman gets married she continues her role in care-taking, except now under the criteria of nourishing and upbringing descendants. ^{Yakovleva (2007)} states that traditionally women are responsible for taking care of children and other domestic activities, task that they carry out even when they are outside the house by taking their children to work.

This “serving the meal” is not only limited to dietary activities. The role of the woman has implications in the area of food security; also in health improvement, and families’ lifestyles ^{(Sinn et al., 1999)}. ^{Sraboni et al. (2014)} show that women empowerment in agricultural zones increases the diversity in the diet, and the caloric intake in the households. ^{Adedayo et al. (2010)} reveal that the exploitation of forest resources by rural women has a great impact on the provision of foods, medicinal materials, energy supplies, and in general the wellbeing of their households.

This activity is of such importance that when, for any given reason, the mother (housewife) is not available, the one who takes over this responsibility is the grandmother, the eldest daughter, or the mother’s sisters. Only one of the producers is not married and he eats at his sister’s house. In this case, in particular, it is the sister who has interiorized that she is the one who should prepare food for her unmarried brother.

In this physical space the men contribute with activities of maintenance and conservation. All the producers make repairs and changes to the property as needed, which, according to ^{Aguilar-Montes de Oca et al. (2013)}, helps them define themselves through their ability to reach results associated to physical strength and body roughness.

“I fix everything that breaks in the house”. Man, 58 years, El Tixhiñú, Estado de México.

^{Ayala-Carrillo (2007)} states that for the men it is of utmost importance to maintain their masculinity, so he shouldn’t and he can’t perform any tasks that do not agree with his role and masculine status.

In the households with migrant husbands, the role of suppliers is concentrated on the remittances that they send. Only one case of this nature was found in this study. For ^{Corona (2014)}, migration has been and will continue to be the strategy to mitigate the impoverishment in the place of origin. It is common for homes with a woman head of household, who receive remittances, to not necessarily be the most vulnerable, although they do depend on them ^{(Cruz Islas, 2014)}. In the case of migration found, the remittances are used for the children’s school expenses and for improvements to the household. The rest of the regular expenses are covered by the dairy activity.

Backard milpa

The backyard milpa, located on the side of the household, is the area destined to food production for self-supply and exchange. It has maize (Zea mays) as central axis, articulated with other crops, such as squash (Cucurbita pepo L.), edible foliage plants called quelites, fungi, medicinal and ornate plants, and fruit trees. In addition, it includes animals such as rabbits, pigs, sheep and fowl.

Of the total barns analyzed, 100 % cultivate maize, collect edible foliage and fungi; 50 % squash; and 70 % has pear, apple and fig fruit trees.

Milpa cultivation and backyard animal breeding is another strategy for the storage of assets developed by women in small-scale dairy farms, because they are associated as a living pantry since they supply families with vegetables and animal proteins such as meat and eggs. Sheep and pig breeding is not for the pantry as such, since many times it has a specific purpose (purchase of school supplies, medical treatments, parties) and constitutes also a financial insurance for families. ^{Stroebel et al. (2011)} mention that livestock is an alternative for capital accumulation, given that access to financial instruments is null. This livestock becomes a savings account that provides cash and liquidity at the moment of selling. Also, another advantage of livestock under backyard conditions is that it does not have seasonality and can be sold at any time of the year. ^{Kariuki et al. (2013)} state that livestock plays an important role in the families’ food security since it allows gaining access to direct sources of food and provides income in cash from selling. In this study it was possible to document three farms with pig breeding and fattening, 14 with sheep breeding, nine with rabbit breeding, and 28 with fowl.

^{Farah Quijano (2003)} considers that, on the one hand, caring for the animals guarantees the consumption of some foods in the families and, on the other, generates monetary income to address needs that range from paying credits contracted to reserving for festivities and celebrations, or domestic calamities such as illnesses or funerary expenses.

For ^{Canabal Cristiani (2006)}, women have the responsibility of making the family economy function through the plot or backyard, or other extra income. Managing the milpa allows women to renovate the daily menu of the household. Culinary patterns were identified related to the seasons of the year. For example, during the rainy season, 80 % of the households take advantage of seasonal resources, such as fungi and quelites, and they add them as complements in dishes. During the month of harvest, the housewives include corncobs in the diet and in autumn, salads with apples and pears. It is important to point out that the corncobs offered come from the milpa. Similar results can be found in the study by ^{Magdaleno-Hernández et al. (2016)}, who highlight the importance of the cultivation of other colors of maize in small plots for family dietary use, and in patron saint’s festivities. ^{Sereni Murrieta (2003)} considers that the family gardens are effective tools for negotiation between households, where survival plays an important role.

On every case analyzed, it is the man who decides the crop(s) that will be grown in the milpa. However, it is the women who influence the type or variety to be sown. According to ^{Lope-Alzina (2010)}, these productive behaviors have been reproduced constantly in the rural environment.

“My father taught me to sow maize and to work in the field more than 40 years ago, and I am teaching my male children because that way they will always have a way to support their families”. Man, 55 years, El Tixhiñú.

It is in the backyard milpa and in the household where children learn the tasks of the countryside. This is where they are taught everything that is related to seed selection, preparation of the terrain for sowing, weeding, placing manure, and harvesting. In this process of teaching it is women who guide the children; it should be mentioned that although the activities that children show are socially and culturally masculine, the teaching process belongs to the feminine sphere. This agricultural space assigned to the household is a symbol of the history of the family that motivates the expectation of children taking care of the farm ^{(Grubbström et al., 2012)}.

For ^{Wheeler et al. (2012)}, succession in the farm is a complex process that can take many years to be completed. In small-scale dairy production, this process begins with the children, who learn to operate the system from observing the adults and from performing small tasks in the milpa that are assigned to them, such as helping their mothers to weed, collect fungi, clean the utensils, among others. According to the producers interviewed, in average they spend 4 to 6 hours per week in these activities. After twelve years old, they are assigned their cow, whose milking is responsibility of the teenage boy with supervision by the father.

Productive land

The productive land is made up of cultivated pasturelands and maize plantations used to feed the dairy cattle, whether as grain, fodder or ensilage; this space is associated directly to the masculine sex. For ^{Lope-Alzina (2010)} these gender crops (cultural association between cultivation species and sex of the producer) are prone to reinforce the power relationships between men and women that sustain the social reproduction of a specific social group. In this study, sowing and harvesting are total responsibility of the man. However, it was possible to identify the feminine participation in the land. Of the producers, 70 % harvest their own maize for the livestock and it is right before milling that the women select the seed to be used in the following agricultural cycle. The remaining 30 % is made up of producers who ensile and it is the men who are responsible for the selection. The task of seed selection is of utmost importance for the small-scale dairy production farms and the results from the study do not entirely coincide with what was reported by ^{Cid Aguayo et al. (2015)}, who mention that the feminine work in agricultural zones is generally associated to the kitchen, the garden and the seeds.

The land is property of the producer and can be farmed by different members of the family, since it can border neighboring lands that belong to siblings or relatives. For Vizcarra Bordi et al. (2006), the work of the type “la vuelta en mano” (I work your land, you help me work mine) is a common practice that coexists increasingly more frequently with hiring day laborers. It should be mentioned that in the study zone it was detected that, although the work is collective, harvesting the product is individual for each small-scale dairy production farm; in addition, the excess from maize harvests present in farms with more than 10 ha are traded, thus diversifying the income from the dairy farm.

“Between my brothers and I, we work collectively our five hectares of grassland, but each one of us takes only what he needs to feed his cows”. Man, 57 years, El Tixhiñú.

The men recognize as the sole responsibility of their gender to provide the monetary resources necessary to the family, situation that identifies them with this physical space. These gender functions, as providers and responsible for the family, are mandates that the family and the society in general establish and which have been transmitted throughout generations ^{(Pérez-Nasser, 2012)}. The tasks carried out by them in productive lands are sowing, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting and cutting the grass, in addition to paying fees and working for the maintenance of irrigation channels.

During the harvest season, the family workforce is used; women and teenage children tend to work in the fields to avoid paying day laborers. ^{Posadas-Domínguez et al. (2014)} highlight that family work allows a higher competitiveness of the small-scale dairy systems, so this economic strategy is a fundamental aspect in the reproduction of the farms. The effectiveness of this practice is originated in the fact that the members of the family are conscious that “good work in the field” benefits economically all the family members. In addition to this, during the harvest, young people put into practice all the teachings that the mother has transmitted to them about farming the land since they were children.

Despite the presence of women in this space, they do not perceive their work as productive. ^{Galiè et al. (2013)} state that, although their participation in agricultural work is growing, their role as farmers is underestimated and dismissed; in addition, the various social determinants (capital, education and work experience) affect their own ability to affirm their identity as farmers, so that men are the farmers, while they are only their helpers, or else they are limited only to their role in the household ^{(Anthopoulou, 2010)}.

The barn

The barn is the physical space used for stabling dairy cattle and other beasts of burden, for example, horses. There are two daily milking events, and arrangements for the milk sale.

To support their role of providers, in addition to trading milk, the producers are in charge of the sale of livestock offspring once a year, activity carried out directly in the farm, because most of them already have their clients. There is also the possibility of obtaining income from the rent of agricultural tools such as the tractor, or else, hiring out as paid workers. The masculine work in the barn is associated to the ability of this sex to perform physical tasks and is focused primarily on cleaning the pens, daily milking, caring for the livestock’s health, moving animals through the farm facilities, transporting the fodders from the land to the feeding troughs, managing the manure (as fertilizer in grasslands and maize fields), and selling the milk product. In this regard, ^{Tyler and Fairbrother (2013)} mention that physical strength is commonly linked to concepts of rural masculinity, and it is often related with the idealization of controlling nature.

Feminine participation inside this physical space is associated to cleaning, whether the milking instruments such as blankets and containers, and sporadically the pens, activity that they carry out in the mornings and the afternoons. It should be mentioned that these activities are not recognized as productive, both by men and by women, because for both the term productive is associated directly with obtaining financial resources. This perception is interiorized by women and expressed in the description of the activities that they consider are part of their gender dominion.

“The activities that my husband carries out are from the door out, and I take care of things in here, in the house”. Woman, 60 years, El Tixhiñú, Estado de México.

This perception of the masculine and the feminine is acquired from childhood, which allows for women’s aspirations to coincide with the cultural demands from this region the moment when she marries a dairy producer.

“I learned since I was a young girl to work the field and milk the cows. My father taught me and now I support my husband in the tasks in the barn”. Woman, 40 years, La Concepción Ejido.

During the research, eight barns were registered (27 % of the total) with a feminine administration: five where the husband is a paid laborer, two where the man is medically incapacitated, and another where the husband is a migrant. Two barns were also identified with mixed administrations (man and woman), since the size of the herd (>30 cows) exceeds the capacity to be cared for by as single person. For ^{Espinoza-Cortés and Diez-Urdanivia (2006)}, these situations respond to the migration of the man or to widowhood, and they are temporal ^{(Canabal Cristiani, 2006)}, since once the husband returns, the masculine mandate is restored. In the study zone, both men and women have assimilated that the absence of the man does not mean the total appropriation of the productive zones by women. Both agree that the sexual division of work is mediated by the diversity of strategies for sustenance to which they can gain access to support the productive and family units.

For ^{García Arias et al. (2015)}, the farms where producers are middle-aged are more susceptible to diversifying the activities outside the farm. The five producers who are paid laborers responded that non-agricultural and livestock work was to pay for their children’s university studies. This is an indication that parents promote the increase in the educational level of young people, in order to diversify their sources of income at the time they reach adulthood.