FARM WOMEN OF SWEDEN

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20513, 1 June 1938, Page 3

FARM WOMEN OF SWEDEN

IMPROVING WORKING CONDITIONS In all parts of Sweden, as in most countries, the women of the farms do a great deal of the work, but in northern Sweden they do almost ail of it. in the winter the men are away all day, working on the timber, and the women have sole charge of the stock. Unfortunately this has now come to be a tradition, so that even when the men are not occupied in the forests, the work of the cow-sheds is done by the women. A farmer's wife works hard in any country, but on the farms of northern Sweden her work is never done. In addition to all the farm work, she has, of course, to run her house, and the farm houses of the north are not designed on laboursaving lines. They are generally very big, and usually only a small part of the house is used in the winter, for the cold is intense, and adequate heating involves both expense and labour. In the old days, when families were large and the grown-up children lived at home, the work of the housewife was easier. There was no difficulty about getting maid-servants and dairy-maids to help In the house and byres, and sons and daughters took their share of the work and responsibility. To-day young people are more apt to leave the farms and get employment in the cities, and maid servants are hard to get. More and more the farmer's wife is finding herself without help in her work. The realisation of this critical state of affairs was brought home to Swedish people most vividly at a recent exhibition which dealt with the subject of leisure, and demonstrated the various ways In which free time might be spent. The Swedish Housewives Association got together an exhibit which showed, by pictures and posters, that a great many people, and particularly country housewives, had no leisure time at all. The matter was extremely serious. It w’as discussed in Parliament, and a Government Commission was appointed to investigate the question of holidays. Various agricultural organisations took up the •question, dealing especially with the lives of women in rural districts. It was suggested that holiday weeks for women should be arranged. These holidays could be spent at rural domestic economy schools, where the women could rest, and also hear lectures and take part in discussions if they wished to. The organisations are also considering training housekeepers to take over the work of house and farm during these holidays. These are, of course, emergency measures. The real question is how to improve working conditions for the countrywomen. The first step is to reorganise the farm houses. It is false economy to exhaust the housewife by allowing her to waste her most valuableTabour on a badly arranged house. It has been suggested that every country girl who wishes to remain on the land and to become a country housewife should attend a course at a rural domestic economy school. One of the principal difficulties is that the individual farmer can seldon>*raise the capital for a thorough re-conditioning of his house. A good deal is being done in the w’ay of giving help and advice to builders and architects working in rural districts, and in the Agricultural Schools and Folk High Schools more and more attention is being paid to the planning and building of country homes. The whole question is one of great national importance, because of the increasing number of country girls who are leaving the land to find employment in the tow*ns. Up to three or four years ago the working conditions and the difficulties of the farmer's wife were known only to herself, the “counsellors" of the Country Housewives Association and the teachers in the rural domestic economy schools, but now it has become a burning question and one tfcat is being carefully investigated and studied. A better day is dawning for country women in Sweden, for their striving for better working conditions, for a freer life, and for personal development is now being followed with sympathy and understanding by the whole nation.—From the Country-woman.