The Rural Voice, 1979-12, Page 17concerns of many other farm women. The
conditions that exist for rural people today
do not have to remain the way they are.
You can become a part of the move towards
change.
Too often in the past whenever a woman
showed up at a tarm organization meeting
she was quickly delegated the job of
secretary and coffee maker. Her thoughts
and opinions were given little
consideration in a male oriented group.
Because of this, few women have
participated in farm organization work, but
the situation is changing.
In my opinion farm women are this
country's richest untapped resource;
unorganized they have been left behind.
So in 1975 I appealed to farm women in
our area to join me in founding Women for
the Syrvival of Agriculture...a farm
womens organization dedicated to telling
the farmers story to non farmers. We
started out with only two women; pretty
soon twenty- five had signed our
membership book. Today we have
supporting members all across Canada and
we have never looked back.
At first, cynics told us "you're wasting
your time, you can't change anything.
Nobody is going to listen to a bunch of farm
women." But we interruped them by doing
it.
Based in Winchester Ontario (30 miles
south of Ottawa) W.S.A. is the voice of
Canadian farm women. The purpose of this
group is to encourage rural women to
become active in farm organization work;
to motivate and assist them in becoming
effective communicators; to encourage
them to assume active roles within their
farm community.
in the beginning people who knew
nothing about us tried to destroy our
organization. They called us rotten name i.
They referred to us as "stupid womens
libbers, militants and radicals." They even
accused us of trying to fragment the
existing farm organizations. They were
wrong on all accounts.
But you see we had something they
didn't know about. We had a positive
attitude and positive goals. When people
told us..."you can't do that"....we did it.
We took a stand, we defended our way of
life, we supported our men in agriculture.
We started telling consumers, "Hey folks,
what you have been hearing about farmers
just isn't so. We have a story to tell, a darn
good one, and we intend to shout it across
the nation. And we've done just that.
We refuse to accept the distortions in
agricultural information which has been
fed to the public. People must learn that
what is good for Canadian farmers is good
for all Canada.
We have to come to grips with reality,
there is no room for crying and
complaining. We have to make positive)
agressive and truthful statements. We
need to talk shrewd sense and offer
intelligent and responsible counsel. To do
this we need your help.
Now don't start saying, "I'm just a farm
wife; I couldn't do anything; I don't know
enough." You already know more than
95percent of the population. You're living a
life that only 5percent of the population
experiences...farm life. You perform the
most vital service there is...feeding man.
Compared to the average urban
housewife you are second to none. You are
a walking encyclopedia of information. You
have talents and abilities you haven't even
discovered yet.
None of us can survive without food. The
destiny, the survival of agriculture is in
your hands.
W.S.A. believes that farm women can
open the lines of communication between
farmers and non -farmers. With women
talking to women we can join farmers and
consumers into a partnership that will
benefit all Canadians. Men can't get along
with consumer advocate groups the way
women can.
The refreshing approach of farm women
urban -rural problems.
Eugene Whelan, former Minister of
Agriculture and our Local M.P. Ed Lumley
gave us the backing we needed for a
successful outcome. This month we
received two grants of $4000 each. These
grants were awarded to WSA under the
Secretary of State, Womens Program and
Service to Community program. These
funds will be used to develop
communication programs, print brochures
and newsletters, hold public info meetings,
study seminars for rural people, leadership
training courses, farm tours for consumers
and travel to agriculture or consumer
conventions.
These grants will help to equalize farm
groups with consumer organizations which
have millions of dollars at their disposal.
Our goal for the summer is to produce a
slide and script series under the title,
"Farming Eastern Ontario". One script
will be directed towards adult consumers
and one towards school children. The
photography and writing are already well
underway. Although we have
membership on a national basis
Telling the farmer's story to non -farmers
speaking out, telling it like it is, has been a
welcome change. Television crews and
radio broadcasters scurried to our farms to
allow us to discuss agricultural issues. We
bombarded the media with our message;
we enlightened our members of parliament,
we reached out to our customers -the
consumers.
Despite the negative reaction we had to
cope with in our founding years we have
managed to grow and gain credibility. We
have earned the respect and support of the
farming community. Editors of urban and
rural papers have given us a voice in their
publications. Television and radio stations
provided us with time and exposure.
Service clubs and educational institutions
opened their doors to us.
We have debated land use issues,
presented briefs at public hearings,
challenged negative consumer advocate
groups, sponsored farm info seminars for
men and women and actively participated
in farm organization work.
As our workload and projects increased
our bank account decreased. Already
swamped with responsibilities to farm,
home, church and community,our workers
could find little time available for major
fundrraising projects. Early this year we
applied for a federal grant, to assist us in
financing our program to bridge
numbering in the hundreds, the action and
the work has been taking place at home
base. Most of our ambitious endeavours
have been undertaken by the
woman -power of five to ten individuals.
This proves that big isn't always better;
small can be terrific.
If you believe agriculture needs help,'if
you want to be a part of the action• then
Women for the Survival of Agriculture is
for you. Join the chain of sisterhood among
farm women. Receive newsletters and fact
sheets telling you how to defend your
profession. Grow ana•learn with us; bring
new ambition and excitement into your life.
You don't have to take on the entire
countryside, just share ideas and
information with us. Help spread the word
even if it means talking to people on a one
to one basis.
Lets face facts. Farmers have done a
lousy job on public relations. Our men
can't leave the fields unworked or the cows.
unmilked in order to promote or defend
their profession. But we gals can leave the
dishes in the sink and let the dust lie, to
become the best darn public relations
people in this country for agriculture.
Write to: Women for the Survival of
Agriculture, RR1 Winchester, Ontario
KOC 2KO. Membership: $2.00 Renewable
Each January.
THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1979 PO. 16