Part II

During the Depression, men and women worked together to eke out a living. In some ways, rural people did not suffer as much as those who lived in large urban areas, because at least the farmers had land to continue to raise large gardens and livestock for family consumption.

During the World War II years, more than 2 million men from across the nation left their farms to enter the armed forces. When it became apparent that more help was needed on the farms than what the farmwomen and children could handle (especially, to harvest the crops) the government instituted the Woman’s Land Army (WLA). It is estimated that 1.5 million non-farm women were placed in farm jobs during those years. By the end of the war, these women had won the approval of once-skeptical farmers — and they had maintained the food supply for the country.

During the farm crisis of the1980s, things began to change. More and more women began to work off the farm. They needed to do this for the survival of the family farm itself. Ironically, this did not mean that they had fewer chores on the farm — it only added to their already heavy burden.

In 1988 Sharon Danes, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, conducted a survey with the following results: 75 percent of farm women take care of farm animals; 98 percent run farm errands; 86 percent do the farm bookkeeping; 70 percent do fieldwork such as disking, plowing, cultivating and harvesting; 43 percent make major farm equipment decisions; and 31 percent market products. Also, 66 percent of farmwomen are employed off the farm.

Danes also indicated that “middle-aged farm women carry the burden of heavy loads of paid and unpaid work. At a time in their lives when non-farm contemporaries are slowing down, older women continue with activities — many of which are unpaid, unrecognized and undervalued. Nobody’s had a feel for their role overload because other studies haven’t looked at all the roles together.”

Farmwomen continue to play an important role in the business operation of the family farm. They continue to work alongside their husbands, performing the work that contributes to the economic prosperity of the family farm. But, because they are not paid a salary, and because they are not highly visible, their labor is not recognized for its “dollar” contribution to the rural economy.

A 1994 study by Wayne State University has determined that a farmwoman today is worth $27,500 to a farm. Women put in 68 hours per week of unpaid domestic work, 22 hours of farm chores and five hours of volunteer work. Women with off-farm jobs average 30 hours a week at work. They also often provide the health insurance coverage through their job benefits. The same study says that farmers are worth $23,700.

Farm wives continue to be a very important resource to the operation and prosperity of the family farm, as they were during the early days of settlement. Women’s work is never done — the work is still hard — the hours long. What is changing is that society is beginning to recognize and respect the contribution women have always made to the continuance of rural life.

Sources: “Crossings,” Stearns County Historical Society, Vol. 21, No. 1; “Successful Farming Magazine,” Vol. 93, No. 6.