No equality for farm women of the 1960s
We've recently had International Women's Day, with talk about gender equality, the pay gap and working conditions.
Not like the 'old days' then.
In the Sixties, women weren't farmers, they were just wives. Even if they were a farmer's daughter, when they 'moved situations' they became the 'help'.
Pay gap? I didn't get paid. I was allowed to use the farm account for things like new jeans – a requirement for farm work, after all – and I might get a cut of the profit after selling bullocks. It was common practice for women to be in the ring with them because we could help to raise the price and get a better 'luck penny' – auctioneers'-speak for a tip.
We worked together every day, pretty much the same hours, and it's how I got my first dishwasher, after I seriously suggested he shared "my" inside jobs.
Women were beginning to chose to farm then, but it was an uphill task, and my husband had some funny looks if I offered my opinion when I shouldn't have, and then I'd laugh which only made it worse! You weren't supposed to laugh at men. Can we now?
Rosemary Allen is a retired livestock farmer living near Ellesmere
