Photo by Becky Nelson
This being Women’s History Month and having just celebrated International Women’s Day, I have been reflecting on the history and power of women in our society and my farming family.
I can scarcely imagine the hardship and grueling work put in by my ancestral women on this farm. I know that they were not relegated to “inside” jobs, as almost all work here at the farm even now. In addition for the responsibilities of house and home as a mother and wife, which would have included the chores of childrearing, cooking, cleaning, canning, preserving and household budgeting, they would have been out in the fields planting, picking, haying, woodchopping, hauling water, etc.
Women have not had it easy. Like racism, sexism has been a part of our patriarchal culture for eons. I don’t know how the subjugation of women began, but it became a cultural norm in most cultures world wide. Women have been fighting back and working to break barriers here in the United States and in many cultures around the globe, but there is still a long way to go, even in our own culture and society. Descended from some very tough women who by circumstance or choice beat at the doors of male-dominated careers and power, I have always been a proponent of equal rights for all.
When I was young, the Women’s Movement was middle aged. Those before us had struggled even for the right to be treated as equals in the voting booth and education. We sailed into the fray looking for equality in education for access to careers that paid the same as the men working in them. It has been a struggle, but women have made some strides. The “glass ceiling” has been broken by some, though the treatment of women in the workforce and the executive office is still not equal.
My mother was in her mid and late teens in World War II. She often looked back at old photographs and saddened, having lost friends in the terrible war. She went on to college at Keene State, the choice given her by her parents to be a nurse or a teacher. She was talented in music, and wanted to go to a music conservatory, but the option was not made to her.
My mother-in-law, of working age during the war, worked in one of the metal-working machine shops in Springfield, Vermont, during this time. When I see a poster of Rosie the Riveter, I always think of her. Women were performing “men’s jobs” as many young men were conscripted, but as soon as the men returned from the war, they were essentially pushed out of their jobs and into the role as homemakers. This is exactly the path my mother-in-law followed, though my mother went on to buck the system a bit and work outside our home while we were kids, trying to provide a better life for her kids.
My mother was a quiet feminist. She always told us girls we could be anything we set our minds to, and she and my dad treated us kids as equals. She was a very strong woman. She was talented in financial work, a dedicated matriarch and was always involved in the community, helping those who needed a helping hand. She and dad taught us that gender didn’t matter but that heart, hard work and service were the keys to success. Even though things were always equal at home with mom and dad sharing life at home and in the work place, I could easily see and experience societal inequalities. I remember as a kid wishing I had been born a boy so I could do the same things boys did.
The barriers were many, and some are only now being addressed. We are just now seeing some efforts being made toward equality of pay in men’s and women’s sports. More women are now entering traditionally “male” careers. As a farmer, there are twice as many female decision-makers and landholders farming as there were fifty years ago. Progress is being made.
Entering the working world myself in the 1980s, I was still fighting to gain the same footing as men of equal education and experience. I was rejected with every application when I tried to get into newswriting just out of college and I never made the same salary as the men around me when working in banking, always struggled when changing careers to enter a position suitable for my experience, always having to take bottom rung jobs. The money, even when in the same position with the same experiences as my male counterparts never came close to equal.
There were other challenges as well. Sexual harassment ether blatant or subtle, being passed over for positions because women were a risk and might get pregnant and have to miss work, being treated as just-not-quite-smart-enough for some positions, subtle insults as men called we women “honey,” or “sugar,” “baby,” or “sweetie.” It has been a discouraging ride at some points. But like my mother, my grandmother, and all the strong women before me, I set my goals and my sights and have kept on plugging along. “I am woman, hear me roar.”
The best decision I ever made was to take the risk and leave the mainstream workforce, becoming an equal and valued partner in my family’s business, just supplementing our income with outside jobs and doing what I love to do, even though it is a traditionally “male” career choice. More and more women are pushing the boundaries, breaking the barriers and becoming equals in the workforce and on the home front. Society is changing for the better with men and women sharing the playing field, and I do see progress on attempts for equality and the “liberation” of women. As a Virginia Slims (cigarette ads targeting women) advertisement said in my young years (even though it termed women as inferiors in the script as “babies”) “you’ve come a long way, baby. And baby, it’s alright.” Why the ad men (and they were men) felt the need to add “baby” was a clear clarion call to me, and I’m sure to other women in the liberation movement as well, that it was going to continue to be a struggle for women’s equality.
Thank you to all the women before me that opened doors and started the women’s movement rolling. Things are getting better for women. Celebrate Women’s History Month by examining “our” history and try to keep our society from making some of the same mistakes. You’ve come a long way, strong woman. Keep on working. Other women in the world have not yet been able to start the fight. We owe it to them to keep up the struggle.
Becky Nelson is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport. You may reach her at [email protected].
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