Women in Agriculture

Introduction: The theme, women in American agriculture, is attracting increasing attention from rural women, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and related disciplines, as well as from the agricultural press and the United States Department of Agriculture. This issue of Associates NAL Today brings together the views of several representatives from these fields. Miss Carabelli's reminiscences cover one of the traditional areas of employment where women formerly faced little competition with men in advancing to top jobs in the agency. Life of the rural woman at the time the American Farmer began its "Ladies' Department" and its editor wrote of women's participation in agricultural affairs varied widely from one part of the country to another just as agriculture was diversified. One would wonder how many women actually had access to the column. Nonetheless, the "Department," as described by Berryman and Brislin, covered such subjects as family health, her interest in her husband's diversions, child care, and her duties as wife. In recent years, especially after International Women's Year (1975), a number of agricultural journals have given greater attention to women in agriculture and the increasingly important role they are taking. These are supplemented by special publications for women such as Farm Wife News. A number of articles on the subject are also appearing in professional journals, reflecting the interest of non-farm women. Jeanne M. O'Leary, a labor economist in USDA's Economic Research Service, in "Labor Force Characteristics of Nonmetropolitan Women," compares male and female participation in the labor picture--differentiating between the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan sectors. She describes the impact of rural development on employment, as well as earnings and types of jobs held by women. "Rural Women," by Cornelia Butler Flora, gives a sociologist's view of the traditional role, how it has changed especially since World War II--their participation in production, attitudes toward marriage and raising a family, and rural life styles. The result has been to break down the differences between farm and non-farm people but still leaving the rural women more conservative in some of their attitudes. The review of literature on women in agriculture by Darla Fera, formerly historical research assistant in USDA, will be of particular interest to librarians and those engaged in research in the field. Her detailed bibliography is being published by the National Agricultural Library.引言：美国农业中的女性这一主题，正日益受到农村女性、历史学家、社会学家、人类学家、经济学家及相关学科研究者，还有农业媒体与美国农业部（United States Department of Agriculture, USDA）的关注。本期《NAL今日同仁》（Associates NAL Today）汇集了来自上述领域数位代表的观点。卡拉贝利女士的回忆录涵盖了传统就业领域之一，此前在该机构中，女性在晋升高层职位时几乎无需与男性竞争。当《美国农民报》（American Farmer）开设“女性专栏”，且其编辑撰文论述女性参与农业事务之时，彼时农村女性的生活状况因地域而异，正如农业发展呈现多元化格局一般。人们不禁会好奇，究竟有多少女性能够实际接触到该专栏。不过正如贝里曼与布里斯林所述，该“专栏”涵盖了家庭健康、女性对丈夫休闲活动的关注、育儿以及妻子的职责等主题。近年来，尤其是在1975年国际妇女年之后，诸多农业期刊愈发关注农业领域的女性群体及其日益重要的作用。此类内容还辅以面向女性的专属出版物，例如《农场妻子新闻》（Farm Wife News）。诸多相关主题的文章也开始出现在专业期刊中，这反映出非务农女性对此议题的关注。美国农业部经济研究服务局（USDA Economic Research Service）的劳动经济学家珍妮·M·奥利里在《非都市女性的劳动力特征》（"Labor Force Characteristics of Nonmetropolitan Women"）一文中，对比了男性与女性在劳动力市场中的参与情况——并对都市与非都市两大板块进行了区分。她阐述了农村发展对就业、女性收入以及所从事工作类型的影响。科妮莉亚·巴特勒·弗洛拉所著的《农村女性》（"Rural Women"）一书，则从社会学家的视角剖析了女性的传统角色，尤其是二战以来该角色的转变——包括女性对生产的参与、对婚姻与育儿的态度，以及农村生活方式等方面。这一转变消解了务农与非务农群体之间的差异，但农村女性在部分观念上仍相对保守。曾担任美国农业部历史研究助理的达拉·费拉所撰写的农业领域女性研究文献综述，将特别受图书馆员与该领域研究者的关注。其详尽的参考书目将由美国国家农业图书馆（National Agricultural Library, NAL）出版。