WOMEN WHO DIG

Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World

“On the land they shouldered nearly every aspect of production: tilling the earth by hand, preparing the soil, planting, weeding, and harvesting. Society knew them as the abahingi mukazi – ‘women who dig.’”

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Weaving together the narratives of female farmers from across three continents, Women Who Dig offers a critical look at how women are responding to and, increasingly, rising up against, the injustices of the global food system.

Beautifully written with spectacular photos, it examines gender roles, access to land, domestic violence, maternal health, political and economic marginalization, and a rapidly changing climate. It also shows the power of collective action.

"A haunting, powerful and important journey, one that crosses the borders of class, race and nation, and one that belongs in the canon of food studies. I’ll be thinking about the testimonies in this book for a very long time to come."

̶  Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

Finalist for the High Plains Literary Awards in the Best New Book category

Finalist for the Saskatchewan Book Awards in the Best Book category

“Moyles sees signs of a revolution everywhere: in the fight for Ugandan women to be able to own their own land; in Guatemala, where women fought to stay on the ancestral land in the face of development by Vancouver-based mining companies; and in Canada, where young women are taking up farming, against all odds, in a culture of increasingly large corporate farms.”

– Sharon J. Riley, The Tyee

With women from Guatemala, Nicaragua, the United States, Canada, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and Cuba included, it explores the ways women are responding to, as both individuals and in groups, the barriers they face in providing the world a healthy diet.

WOMEN WHO DIG DOCUMENTARY FILM

Women Who Dig is a documentary film by Anna Kuelken, adapted from the book Women Who Dig: Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World by Trina Moyles.

Women Who Dig showcases Canadian women on a journey to combat food insecurity and the industrial farm system by utilizing traditional farming techniques rooted in ancestral history. The small family farm is often perceived to be an occupation of the past that is being overtaken by large-scale industrial farming practices. Big Ag wreaks havoc on our global climate, all the while creating a GMO monoculture that contributes to an enormous loss of our planet’s biodiversity. This documentary, filmed over the course of three years in cinema verite, offers an intimate portrait of the lesser-told story of women farmers and land stewards pushing back against industrial practices. Across Western Canada in rural and urban centres, women are sowing the seeds for a better tomorrow. These are their stories of hope, grief, joy, and resilience.

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An excerpt:

Women,” said Lilian with a knowing smile, “women are a current in a great, wide river. At the surface the water appears to move slowly. But underneath, the strength of the river is so great it can wear down any obstacle it encounters. Women can move mountains.

I had witnessed it in eight different countries around the world: women resisting the forces that prevented them from growing food and succeeding in the face of patriarchy, market disparities, gender-based violence, and climate change. Today and tomorrow women will change food systems. They will feed the world.”

WOMEN WHO DIG

Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World


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Related Articles

A Labour of Love – Women Farmers Are Changing Alberta’s Agricultural Landscape

Calgary Herald

YES! Magazine

Farming as Resistance

The Globe and Mail

The Future of Farming is Female

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