At the risk of being irrevocably branded as Feminist...

Crop farming does not require strength.You have to be able to operate machinery and know when something is not working as it should.Many of the family farmers around here have the wives do the marketing.Men tend to let their emotions enter their marketing plans and most women do not.

in GENERAL, men have more upper body mass and higher leg and arm strength. Women have more core (abdominal) strength. Men have generally higher lung and heart capacity and slightly more stamina (all other factors being equal). With modern contrivances and/or pragmatic choices of farm type, crops, and livestock, women are at little disadvantage physically if choosing "farming" as a lifestyle or job.

One of the overlooked pieces, however, is that men are generally more solitary and women more relational. If you are a person that needs fairly regular human interaction, farming, unless done in the Amish style, is not for you. Much of farming is very solitary with interaction between you and nature or livestock, not other human beings.

Choose a lifestyle and job that match you, regardless your gender.

R

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When faced with issues in life, where do you look for the problem; out the window, or in the mirror?

??? What's that got to do with farming? The fact that women are better at relationships has nothing to do with how well you can work in a solitary situation.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

I often get a similar resoponse, because our women wear dresses. Long dresses. Think little house on the prairy dresses. From birth my daughters have never worn pants or shorts. People said it would stunt them by restricting their crawling ability. Others said they couldbn't play outside without changing clothes every five minutes. And many other things I am at witts end trying to remember. My Dear wife and 2 daughters do more than most men around these days and do it in full length dresses. If there is a job that can't be done in a dress we haven't come cross it yet. I am proud of them sticking to it and not giving in. That being said there are dresses for different occassions. Feeding the animals and going out to dinner are two different pieces of cloth.

__________________
Reverend George Hoppes

Available to preform Weddings, Blessings and other services in Southern Missouri.
http://ministers.themonastery.org/profile/Hoppes65761

I think it's all in the mind. I know women that are just as physically capable as men. They can lift and tote. The two women laborers at work have earned the respect of all the men. They work as hard or harder all day long. I don't know where, "women are the weaker sex" came from but it's been a crutch to many women and a disservice to many times more.

Gailann, I agree with Willowgirl: what's wrong with being a feminist?

Women are still in the wilds of the world tending to the farm animals and raising the crops. Its a womans job that a man would never touch. Women were the ORIGINAL farmers of the world. Men hunted and woman worked the crops.

Absolutely NOTHING wrong with being a feminist. I just say that so all the pretty little men (and you know who you are) won't be so jumpy... It even makes my son jumpy...

And Actually? I consider myself an equalist. If you wanna do it? And CAN do it? Cool! We need ya to do it! Or even just TRY it! It'll expand your mind! You'll be able to UNDERSTAND what it takes to put a dozen eggs on the table...

LOL.



Men/Women gendered thoughts are so limiting. I think we, as women, see it more than men. In the same manner that I, as a white-raced individual, can never truly see everything a different race experiences in some communities.

Having lived and worked in a college town - Purdue - all my life, I really don't "see" race as much as other folks do. My ex-husband actually won't come over to campus (even to help his only child move in to the Residence Halls) because he's afraid to drive near campus, suspicious of other ethnicities, blah, blah, blah...

My sister-in-law actually wouldn't let "her boys" (she had four) wear anything pink, purple, etc. when they were little. And when the youngest of five was born? A girl? The "boys" told me that it was "...GREAT NOW THAT MOM HAS SOME HELP FOR THE KITCHEN!" Horrifying. Really and truly.

In other cultures? Pink means nothing. Blue means nothing. Black means happy. White means death. Really.

We are all biased in some form or another (including myself, btw), but the true "townies" tend towards rabid fear (and HATE) towards college students. Pretty much the way "men" see "women" threatening their manliness.

I've been around some women that could bench press a full-grown steer. If they want to farm? Cool. We need them. We are going to starve without them. If that woman is 5' tall and cranky? Cool. We need them. We are going to starve without them.

I guess my point is, in a true homesteading environment? What does gender REALLY have to do with it?

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Radically conservatively un-biased liberal.

http://whitepinesoapworks.com/

Shall we turn this question around? What is wrong with being a male chauvinist?

The same answers you have for this question apply to being a feminist.

And yes, there are some women that can farm. Just like there are some men.

We lived far away from our nieces and nephews when they were growing up, and we didn't have kids of our own.

Finding ideas for appropriate gifts was ALWAYS really hard.
One time, I found a toy that had great reviews online and it sounded nifty...

It was plastic "food" pieces that were held together with velcro. IT came with a plastic knife. When the child cut the food apart, the velcro made a cool and authentic cutting sound. I liked it.

I sent it to my nephew. When they got it, my sister-in-law called and asked if we forgot he was boy!

Her boys will grow up to be male chauvinists, most likely.
Fearful of being too feminine if they cut food... It's bizarre.

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Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

I can tell you this my wife has a strong dislike for the modern feminist. She has seen plenty of them, they want to be able to get "a man's job" at "a man's pay" but they don't want to do "a man's worth of work".

__________________
Remember, when seconds count. . .
the police are just MINUTES away!

Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett

I've found that most of the things I accomplish with brute strength are the things that I'm either not doing correctly or didn't plan out all that well.

I cook in the kitchen fairly often, so, if my wife wants or needs to use the tractor, it's only fair. We wrestle to see who gets to clean the toilets.

She has her talents and I have mine. We try to do our best to make our family as strong as possible. I can't say that the chores are divided along gender lines.

I have worked with several women on different farms and I will say YES WOMEN CAN FARM LOL. In fact I enjoyed working with the women more than most of the guys. We worked hard, no attitudes, no competitive BS, and did a great job. I think most women make much better milkers in dairy farms and are more observant and sensitive to the animals needs. Sometimes there is WAAAAY too much testosterone flowing around!!!

Being a feminist is not a bad thing. Being a militant feminist has only hurt women, not helped them.

I will have to ask the many women I see haying in the hot sun if they knew they cannot do farm work.

__________________
United states of America

Born July 4, 1776

Died November 4, 2008

Suicide

Well not when its close to supper time

Ok just kidding LOL.

i agree / woman /man/ doesn't make any difference what sex you are just as long as its done. who really cares? i don't. im a female and i run this farm. there is stuff i don't do .. i haven't been taught, but its not like i cant do it. i think i have more problems getting dh to do things. i always have company and the next thing ya know he sits down with beer in hand and he is done, not me im still in the garden or still driving nails or still turning the hay over or making grain. or making dinner. but now thats a whole different story . isn't it.

Boy the difference a letter makes... I first read that as laying not haying!

...so did I... BIG difference between laying and haying...


and AGAIN, I will revise my stand that I'm an EQUALIST...


However, I don't believe a 5' 110# woman should get a heavy construction job over a 6'1" 200# man just because she's a woman.

THAT'S not equal either...

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Radically conservatively un-biased liberal.

http://whitepinesoapworks.com/

Its not so much brute strength but the ability do do the task over and over. Think of driving steel post. At the start of the day that post drive isn't really that heavy but by the end of the day you discover someone turned gravity WAY up.

Our, the wife's and mine, biggest gripe is when they lower the standards to allow more females to qualify. The best example I have is a lot of fire departments have a lower standard for females than males when it comes to being able to carry and/or drag a dummy. I forget the exact standards but its something like this: A male must be able to carry a 180# dummy and drag a 250# one. Where a female must only carry a 150# and drag a 200# one. So if you are passed out in a burning building you had either pray that you are found by a male or there's time for a female to find someone to help her.

I have the same problem with the combat arms branches of the military. Female have a lower physical standard to meet. To me this means the odds are a unit with a female in it will not be able to do the job as well as an all male unit.

__________________
Remember, when seconds count. . .
the police are just MINUTES away!

Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. . .Davy Crockett

Unless it is kitchen duty?










JUST KIDDING!!!