Since time began, and Eve was blamed for feeding Adam the apple, the man has been looked at as the leader. The stronger, smarter of the sexes. Stronger, maybe. Smarter, that can very easily be debated. The leader, quite often yes, but was that always the right choice? The “weaker” sex was usually given the lighter jobs. While the men were off fishing, hunting, and trying to conquer some other territory that they didn’t control the women were left behind to look after the growing of the garden and other crops. The women also made the clothes, cleaned the animals and fish that were brought back. Of course, they had to keep the homestead or tent city clean and help each other raise and educate the children.
I can vividly remember when Charlotte Whitton was elected in 1951, as the first women mayor of a major city in Canada. That city was Ottawa. Jeannie Nevue became the first woman president of the Quebec Farmers Association years before a woman could even be a director of any other farm organization in Quebec. During the last half century, I have sat on various co-ops and farm associations in Quebec and was appalled at the wage gap between what men and women who were doing the same job earned.
I have much more experience working around a farm than at a board table, but there are also many jobs on a farm that are done much better by women than men. Women tend to have more understanding and patience when working with animals than men. The animals show more patience when they are handled, milked, or treated while not well with women than when they were surrounded by men. Women are quicker to pick up early signs of distress in an animal than men are. Not that many years ago, woman were not allowed in an area where animals were being bred or having young. I had trouble understanding this since the woman usually understood what was happening and the problems that could arise better than most men.
On the last tour of the best run dairy farms in the area of east Ontario, west Quebec where we visited a dozen modern dairy farms in two days. The best managed and run three dairy farms were all managed by very smart young mothers, some with a small child in a pack on their back.
Most of us can remember when a smart lady blew the whistle on some ongoing corruption, she was kicked out of the party. She could have posed a real threat to the future of that politician. There was another top politician who, while enjoying herself too much at a party where everyone was letting off steam, stated some facts that were, a little bit, not politically correct and was severely criticized by some male journalists.
The top animal behaviorist in the world is a lady by the name of Temple Grandin who is recognized by the world’s best in guiding the design of animal handling facilities, to reduce or eliminate undue stress on the animal.
It was the neighbor women who were the midwives that helped bring our earliest pioneers into the world when doctors were non-existent in the wilderness of the Ottawa Valley. Some of our countries earliest doctors were assisted by their wives while performing life saving operations in very modest rooms in their home.
This coming Sunday, May 14, is Mothers Day. Please take time to reflect on the past opportunities that your mother, grandmother, and ancestors have given up so you can be. There are other mothers who have had their child taken away by someone who thinks that they knew best. Please take a few minutes to remember your mom whether she is close by, in a retirement home, or now at a higher level. Thank you mother’s.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
