1060 



Agriculture as an Occupation fob Women. 



[Feb., 



AGRICULTURE AS AN OCCUPATION 

 FOR WOMEN. 



Gertrude Watkin. 



Experience gained during the Great War has made it neces- 

 sary for us to reconstruct somewhat our ideas of what are, or 

 what are not, possible occupations for women, and this applies 

 in a greater degree to agriculture than to any other occupation. 



Dairy work and poultry keeping have probably always been 

 regarded as coming within the woman's sphere of usefulness. 

 Except in these two special branches, however, the skilled work 

 on a farm was in the past considered to be essentially a man's 

 work, at any rate in England, though women were employed for 

 unskilled and seasonal work. During a long period women 

 worked in gangs at almost nominal wages and under very bad 

 conditions at such jobs as stone -picking, and most of us are 

 familiar with the sight of train loads of hop-pickers, pea-pickers 

 and fruit-pickers leaving London and other great centres when 

 the season comes round for the respective crops to be gathered. 



When, some quarter of a century ago, the Horticultural College 

 at Swanley opened its doors to women students, many heads 

 were shaken and much laughter was provoked by the idea of 

 women taking up gardening as a profession. At first there was 

 some difficulty in finding posts for the women at the close of 

 their training, but as time passed on and their efficiency became 

 recognised, this difficulty gradually disappeared, and gardening 

 was commonly accepted as being enjoyable, light work suitable 

 to a woman's strength. While agreeing with the main conclusion 

 as to women's capacity as gardeners, one wondered sometimes 

 whether those who described it by the adjective " light " had 

 ever done a really hard day's work in the garden. 



A few rash souls of the weaker sex were then heard to 

 say that, not content with the spade and the hoe, they 

 wanted to take to the plough, the harrow, and farming 

 generally, without limiting themselves to the dairy and the 

 chi°ken-run. This was an innovation, indeed. " How could 

 a woman farm? " w T as asked, incredulously. " Why, she 

 couldn't- carry a sack of wheat ! " It was futile to suggest 

 that farming does not consist entirely of carrying sacks 

 of wheat, and. further, that there are many farmers and 

 farm hands of the opposite sex who are also unable to perform 

 that particular task. The argument was felt to be conclusive, 

 b icked up as it was by the thought in many peoples' minds that 

 farming was " not quite nice " for women. 



