The work done by farm women through the first third of the 20^th century was often undervalued and unacknowledged.  Yet, in most cases, this work was vital to the survival of the family and the farm.  Under a gendered work system men were primarily responsible for doing cash-producing field work while women labored in the farmhouse, vegetable garden, and poultry house.

            Farm women churned butter, made cheese, raised poultry and gathered eggs.  Sometimes the profits from these activities were the woman’s to keep.  Sometimes the money went to pay bills and taxes.

Not Just a Homemaker

            President Theodore Roosevelt convened the Commission on Country Life to examine ways to improve the lives of farm families.  The commission concluded that the key to improving country life lay in the use of technology.  For the farmer, this meant mechanization in the field and barn.  For the farm woman, this meant mechanized equipment in the farm home.  The all-male, upper middle-class commission was recommending that farm women model themselves after their urban middle-class sisters.  What the commission ignored was the cultural and economic realities faced by farm women.

            Farm women valued their work as farm producers, and for reasons of economics and family politics, they wanted to retain that position.  In their comments to government officials and the farm press, women called for greater recognition of their labor and economic contribution.  They wanted this recognition to be shown in a fairer investment in the equipment they used to perform their labor.

            The diversity of the farm woman’s work and the importance of her role as a farm producer made her situation significantly different from that of the middle-class urban housewife.  Whereas her urban counterpart concentrated her efforts on the care and supervision of her own family members, the farm woman had her family, hired farm hands, her garden, and probably her hens to care for.

New Technologies That Really Work

            However, there were significant roadblocks keeping farm women from enjoying the benefits of developing technologies.  The need for increased food production during WWI meant that all farm profits were invested in machinery that would increase farm productivity.  The collapse of the farm economy in the 1920s and 1930s meant that any money made went towards plain survival.  And sometimes the women themselves made choices that rejected the adoption of modern household equipment.  In the 1920s, the choice was often made to acquire communication and transportation technology.  After all, one woman said, “You can’t go to town in a bathtub.”  Telephones, radios, and automobiles could all assist women in their roles as farm producers and lessen their sense of isolation.  Midwestern farm women were comparatively well off when it came to modern transportation and communication technology.  In 1919, 73% had access to an automobile, and 85% had telephones. 

            A survey conducted in 1913 by Secretary of Agriculture David Houston brought out farm women’s dissatisfaction with the level of mechanization in the farm home as opposed to the farm.  These Progressive-era women were convinced that the mechanization of their work was a good thing, and that it would be part of a larger process to gain greater status and control within the family.

            The Federal government response to the survey was the creation of the Agricultural and Home Economic Extension Service.  In order to secure the services of county farm and home demonstration agents, states and counties had to provide matching funds.  While Extension Service programs would provide education opportunities for women, no attempt was made to upset the existing gender hierarchy.

The Depression Starts Early on the Farms

            WWI had brought prosperity to American farms.  Everything that a farmer could grow brought high prices at market.  Most of the farm profits were invested in modern equipment that increased the farm’s productivity.  With the end of the war, however, agricultural markets fell, creating a depression in the farming community that was not relieved until the start of WWII.

            During the 1920s, government research and the resulting literature downplayed the farm women’s lack of modern equipment and long hours of work in favor of the joys and challenges of farm life.  The government wished to keep up the morale of farm families.  But, in spite of the lack of money to pay for modern domestic equipment, the USDA Extension office made clear its goal of turning farm women into typical urban, middle-class homemakers.

            One of the conditions that the USDA was seeking to change was the rural-to-urban flight of young people.  More women than men were leaving the country in favor of the city.  The government interpreted the situation as a protest against the conditions under which women lived and worked.  Reality was that young farm women had limited economic options under the patriarchal system in which the young men inherited the farm operation.

The Traveling Cooking Schools Are a Hit

            Other educational opportunities for farm women existed besides those provided by the Agricultural Extension Service.  In 1885 the College of Agriculture of the University of Wisconsin created its Farmers’ Institute.  This was a program of lectures and demonstrations put on in various locations around the state, during the winter, when farm work was not so pressing.  The institutes proved to be very popular.  In 1892, the director of the program recognized the need to include farm women, and created the Cooking School component of the institute.  The schools quickly became the most popular part of the Farmers’ Institute.  From two sessions in 1892, over forty of these two- and three-day events were being held every winter after 1910.

            The format of each session was the same.  The instructor and her assistants stood in front of their audience, surrounded by the latest cooking technology and time-saving devices.  Each item on the demonstration menu was prepared in front of the audience, and samples of the completed dishes were passed around.  All the while, there was a lively dialog of questions and answers between the instructor and her audience.

            While the cooking schools improved women’s cooking skills, they also served as a conduit for the latest ideas in cooking technology, nutritional science, and food safety.  The Farmers’ Institutes continued until 1933, when they fell victim to the Great Depression.

Everyone Wants a Radio

            Another media existed that soon proved extremely popular with farm families.  By 1920, radio was fast becoming the entertainment medium of choice.  Available right in the home, radio opened a world of opportunities and experiences to its listeners.  The businesses and institutions that served the farming community quickly recognized the new opportunities that presented themselves.  Market reports and weather forecasts were soon daily fixtures on the schedule.  In Wisconsin, WHA radio had started broadcasting farm programs with domestic themes in 1921.  The College of Agriculture came to depend on WHA as a way to get useful information to citizens.  Farm families had to spend at least $100 on a radio set in order to pull in the programs they wanted, but most felt it was worth the high cost.  By 1930 almost 40% of rural Wisconsin home had a radio.

             Throughout the 1920s, the extension specialists of the College of Agriculture appeared periodically on WHA to give homemaking lessons such as “Shopping for Bric a Brac,” and “Taking the Drudgery out of House Cleaning.”  In 1929 WHA premiered the “Homemakers Program,” hosted by a variety of UW faculty and students until 1933, when Aline Hazard stepped up to the microphone and stayed there until her retirement in 1965.

            When she began her radio career, Aline already had a degree in speech and English.  One of the requirements for hosting the “Homemakers Program” was a degree in home economics, so Aline rolled up her sleeves and started work on her second degree, earned while broadcasting six days a week.  The programs featured interviews and roundtable discussions with specialists and leaders from the community who provided information on childrearing, health issues, housekeeping, and of course cooking and recipes.

Available Electricity Makes a Difference

            The one thing that finally made it possible for farm women to achieve something close to the government vision of the ideal rural homemaker was cheap, reliable electric power.  It had been made clear to the Agriculture Department as early as 1913 that cheap electricity was one thing that would lighten the farm woman’s burdens, but it took the New Deal response to the Great Depression to make it happen.  In 1935 the Rural Electrification Administration was created, which made electricity available to all but the most remote farms.  The REA, plus the easing of the effects of the depression, finally brought the modern, labor-saving domestic equipment so long desired into the farm homes of America.

            In actuality, Wisconsin had done a better than average job of electrifying its farms.  Already in 1931, before the creation of the REA, just over 20% of Wisconsin’s farms were electrified, almost double the national average and the third highest number in the Midwest.