Women who farm: A preliminary portrait

Abstract

Nearly 500,000 women are engaged in farm work. Although the majority are unpaid family workers, in recent years greater proportions are in salaried and managerial positions. In-depth interviews with farming women in Baca County, Colorado, however, suggest that wage classification has negligible predictive value in explaining a woman's attitude toward farm work. Satisfaction with doing “men's work” depends on early socialization experiences and the degree to which a woman adopts the traditional female value system. The relevance of a masculinity—femininity dimension to distinguish women with career versus homemaking proclivities is demonstrated.