RURAL CHILDHOOD

Jobs by Gender

 

Work on the farm was often segregated between girls and boys.  Young boys helped their mother in the home until they were older and strong enough to graduate to field work.  This field work consisted of plowing, planting, harvesting, cutting, binding, and the like such as splitting wood and putting up hay. Girls, on the other hand, stayed with their mothers and completed more domestic chores such as washing, churning butter, baking, cleaning, and caring for infants. For instance, some girls began cooking for their large farm families by the age of eigth.

   

It was not unusual, however, for boys to help in the home or girls to help in the field if more hands were needed.   If a family had no sons, the daughters were expected to plow, plant, and harvest.  Sons also helped at home when a family had no daughters. Ralph Wood, who grew up in rural Wisconsin, was the youngest of the family and when his two sisters died of diphtheria, he assumed the role often associated with daughters.  While his two older brother’s helped their father in the field and with the upkeep of the farm, a ten-year-old Ralph wrote in his diary how he ironed, churned butter, and sewed.  He also helped drive teams, husked corn, and carried bundles which showed how his duties on the farm often reflected those that would have been completed by an older daughter of the family.