Presentation Title: Suffrage, Food Production, and Winning the War: The Story of The Women’s Land Army
During World War I, women who had been marching for suffrage put down their signs, picked up their hoes and marched off to the farms. With the men gone to war, there was a dire need for farm workers. The women were not initially welcomed with open arms. There was considerable skepticism about the ability of the women to engage in arduous farm work. Not only did the women, who were primarily winsome college students, have to overcome this skepticism, they had to overcome the Southern attitudes about the role of women in society and jealous farm wives. The story of how they accomplished this and consequently earned the right to vote is the focus of this lecture. The Women’s Land Army reemerged during WWII.
Read this article about the presentation in The Chautauquan Daily – See page 3