"where the emphasis on sex was less" The Women's Section of the Canadian Council of Agriculture

Abstract

Between 1913 and 1918 farm women in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and ontario took the initiative to organize women's sections of their respective provincially organized farm associations. By January 1919 executive members of the women's sections realized that co-operation between the provincial associations of the organized farm women would be valuable in addressing concerns and issues which superceded provincial boundaries. Thus, the Interprovincial Council of Farm Women was formed. The next step was affiliation with the Canadian Council of Agriculture, the farmers' national council, which hitherto had no provision for female representatives. The elite group of women who composed the membership of the Interprovincial Council believed the problems of the farming community were equally those of farm men and women. Hence, they joined a national farm association with a strictly male membership instead of affiliating with a national women's club. However, once the Women's section of the Canadian Council of Agriculture was initiated, the women had only minimal effect on Council business. Many difficulties besieged the Women's section and the main Council throughout the 1920s, especially the controversial issue of whether the farmers should be active in politics. The final meeting of the Women's section was held in 1929 but the Canadian Council of Agriculture floundered until it ceased operation in 1932.