Women’s Work

I took a lot of flack last week from people wanting to know why I didn’t write about International Women’s Day or Women’s History Month. First, this is my busy time of the year so I don’t pay much attention to events that don’t directly pertain to farming and secondly, it’s still March so I can chime on the monthlong celebration of women’s history.

Not knowing much about it other than it’s great fodder for social media posts and magazine articles, I decided to delve into the actual history of Women’s History Month.

Women's Day was originally begun to mark the anniversary of the garment strike led by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Known as the New York shirtwaist strike of 1909, also known as the Uprising of the 20,000. The strike primarily involved Jewish women working in New York City shirtwaist factories who wanted better wages, safer working conditions, and reasonable hours. Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

I followed the rabbit trail of the ILGWU to find that it was the biggest labor union in this country for 95 years, integrating into the AFL-CIO in 1995.  This tidbit of information sent me digging in my closet for the vintage clothing and there they were in the hats, clutches and fur coat all made long before I was born, proof of a unionized female labor force.

National Women’s Day was celebrated annually on February 28th until 1987 when it was designated by Congress as National Women’s Month every March as a way to empower young girls around the nation with courage, self-esteem, and willpower to walk in our ancestors' footsteps. The aim is to inspire current and future generations to emulate the women who laid the framework for us to succeed, be treated equitably and be recognized in society. Afterall, we’ve only been at it for 114 years now.

Sarcasm aside, I look back at the women who have inspired me in my agrarian endeavors. In my early 20’s while working on a cattle ranch I was introduced to neighboring ranch owner—a woman who rode in enough bling to outshine Dolly Parton and drove a hot pink 4WD runabout. Her advice to me—never let anyone tell you that you can’t.

As the only child of a citrus and cattle rancher she’d grown up working alongside her father learning the ins & outs of the business, but when he passed away she was shocked to learn she was not to inherit his vast land holdings because she was a young, unmarried woman. That didn’t stop her from doing a bit of fancy legal footwork until the laws changed in the 1970’s to allow her legitimately to put the ranch in her own name. She’s in her late 80’s now and still working on the ranch along with her daughter and granddaughter who won’t have the problems with succession that she did.

I’m grateful I had the ability to purchase my own farm as an unmarried woman. Looking around the market I see all the other women farm owners and business owners, thinking about our history and more often than not, worrying about the future. It’s troubling as we’ve all recently watched legislation enacted that removes the rights and protections for women on a personal level. Will those same legislators come for the same rights and protections that the women we celebrate during National Women’s History Month fought for?

Over half of the farmers in the United States are men over 60, but the fastest growing demographic of farmers today are women between the ages of 30-40. Historically, women have been referred to as nurturing so let’s take our cue from history and continue to encourage and enable women as leaders and producers in all facets of agriculture as well as the rest of society.