. She and her
children contribute a considerable amount of the labor of the farm
enterprise, and do all of the housework; but the husband does the
selling and most of the buying, she often has but little share in the
management of the family's finances, and rarely knows what she may count
on for household expenses. She comes to feel that she is no longer a
real partner, but a sort of housekeeper, though without salary or
assured income. In over nine thousand farm homes studied in the northern
and western states,[5] one-fourth of the women helped with the
livestock, and one-fourth worked in the field an equivalent of 6.7 weeks
a year, over half of them cared for the home gardens, and one-third of
them kept the farm accounts. Over a third of them helped to milk,
two-thirds washed the separators, and 88 percent washed the milk pails,
60 percent made the butter and one-third sold the butter, but only 11
percent had the spending of the money from its sale. Likewise 81 percent
cared for the poultry, but only 22 percent had the poultry money for
their own use and but 16 percent had the egg money. These figures do not
give us a complete analysis of the household finances in relation to the
amount contributed by farm women, but they are indicative of the general
situation.

It is because of these facts that farm women feel that a larger portion
of the farm income should be spent in giving them better household
conveniences, somewhat commensurate with the amount that is spent for
improved farm machinery and barn conveniences. Only one-third of these
farm homes had running water; and but one-fifth had a bath-tub with
water and sewer connections; 85 percent had outdoor toilets. Improvement
is in evidence, however, for two-thirds had water in the kitchen, 60
percent had sink and drain, 57 percent had washing machines, and 95
percent had sewing machines. It is not that she is merely seeking less
work so that she may attend her club or go to the movies, that the farm
mother desires better conveniences and shorter hours--her average
working day is now 11.3 hours--but because she has new ideals of the
nurture which she wishes to give her family and of what she might do for
them had she the time and physical strength.

As a result of the cooperative survey of 10,000 representative farm
homes in 241 counties in the 33 northern and western states made by home
demonstration agents and farm women, Miss Ward[6] gives some interesting
"side-