Women who farm: A preliminary portrait

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.An earlier version of this article was presented at the New Horizons for Women in Work and the Professions Panel of the Sociologists for Women in Society sessions at the Hotel Roosevelt in New York City, August 28, 1976.