RISK PERCEPTION AND RESOURCE SECURITY FOR FEMALE AGRICULTURAL WORKERS

Abstract

This paper extends the behavioral ecology framework to predict how individuals perceive and evaluate risks. The perceptions of health and safety hazards for females, and how those perceptions relate to resource security and resource acquisition are examined. Poverty and inequality affect the constraints and opportunities available for Hispanic women working in apple packing warehouses in Eastern Washington. Warehouse workers see the health and safety risks inherent in their work and view the hazards from their positions of relative vulnerability with respect to resources. They are active agents who evaluate their situations and work to provide secure resources for themselves and their offspring within the local political and socioeconomic context.

Citation

Snyder, K. (2004), "RISK PERCEPTION AND RESOURCE SECURITY FOR FEMALE AGRICULTURAL WORKERS", Alvard, M. (Ed.) Socioeconomic Aspects of Human Behavioral Ecology (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 271-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(04)23011-6