Study shows women’s farm role

Auntie Em did the laundry and the cooking, and was referred to as a “farm wife.” But farm women today bristle at that term. Now farm women consider themselves farmers, too.

And well they should: They manage and care for calves, milk and feed the cows, take charge of farm finances, and do artificial insemination. They also have a much larger role in decision-making than economists give them credit for. Until agricultural economist Lydia Zepeda did her research, all the economic models of technology adoption assumed that farms had one decision-maker, typically the male head of the household.

“What I found was women involved in every task on the farm except crops and machinery,” says Zepeda, a School of Human Ecology professor

Zepeda’s observations were drawn from two studies of Wisconsin dairy farmers, including a survey of 600 couples to determine how men and women spent their time and made decisions.

Zepeda’s survey, which was supported by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, revealed not only that women have undertaken a diversity of tasks, but also that they spend longer hours at work than men do.