The Current Study
 The sample for this study was comprised of 760 randomly
selected farm women residing on farms in North Dakota, United
States of America. Ninety-seven percent were currently married;
only 1.6% were divorced, widowed or separated; and 1.4% were
never married. They had been married an average of 22 years and
had an average of three children. The average age of the women
was 44 years. The women had an average of 12.7 years of formal
education; their husbands had an average of 11.4 years.
 The average size of the North Dakota families' farms was 1,461
acres. Twenty-nine percent of the farm women's husbands were
employed part time or full time off their farm.

Instrumentation and Procedures
 Socio-demographic variables were identified in the literature as
potentially influencing women's farm work contributions. A
questionnaire was used to gather data pertaining to these
variables: women's educational level, husband's educational
level, annual family income, number and age of children.
 The work contributions were assessed by a questionnarie
designed specifically for this project. The agricultural production
activities defined by Deere and deLeal (1981) provided the
framework for the questionnaire. The subjects were asked to
describe their involvement in the operation of the farm or ranch.
The following choices were given, with instructions to check all
that applied to them:
 1. I am not involved in the farm work.
 2. I do the bookkeeping
 3. I'm involved in decision making, such as purchase of
 equipment, land or livestock.
 4. I operate farm or ranch equipment.
 5. I care for livestock.
 6. I prepare meals and/or do laundry for men working on our
 farm or ranch.
 7. I do other types of work (please be specific).
 The women were asked if they received a salary for the work
they did on the farm or ranch. They were also asked if they were
currently employed off-the-farm or ranch, and if so, the type of
employment.
 The work contributions of the children were determined by
asking the women if their children helped with household and/or
farm chores. If their answer was "Yes," they were asked if their
child/children helped "very little, some, or a great deal."
 The research instruments were mailed to the women. An
enclosed, self-addressed envelope was included for the return of
their completed instruments. The data were analyzed using
analysis of variance procedure.

Women's Farm Work
 The overall responses indicate an extensive involvement of the
women in farm work. Over 93% of the women were involved in
some way; only 7% reported they were not involved. Seventy-six
percent prepared meals and/or did laundry for men working on
the farm. Seventy-six percent prepared meals and/or did laundry
for men working on the farm. Sixty-one percent were involved in
major decision making and 60% did the bookkeeping. Equip-
ment was operated by 54% of the women and 42% cared for
livestock. Twenty-two percent reported doing other types of
work, including running errands, getting repairs for equipment,
taking seeds, chemicals, fuel and fertilizer to the fields, and
delivering eggs to customers after the eggs had been gathered,
washed, candled and packed. Only 7% reported they received a
salary for the farm work they did.

The Decision Makers
 Because decision making represents a higher level of involve-
ment in agricultural production than other types of farm work,


characteristics of those women involved in decision making were
investigated. Several significant differences were found between
women involved in decision making and those that were not.
 The decision makers had fewer children, 3.05 compared to the
non-decision makers with 3.34 children. The decision makers had
higher family income ($51,300) compared to their counterparts
($41,100). Decision makers belonged to more clubs and
organizations, 2.5 compared to 2.2 for the non-decision makers.
The decision makers were also extensively involved in agricultural
production. Sixty-seven percent of the decision makers compared
to 34% of the non-decision makers operated farm equipment.
Fifty-two percent of the decision makers and only 25% of the
non-decision makers cared for livestock. Sixty-nine percent of the
decision makers did the bookkeeping for the farm compared with
45% of the non-decision makers. The differences related to
agricultural production were all significant at the .05 level.
 It is interesting to note that while not significant, more (30%)
non-decision makers were employed off-the-farm than decision
makers (25%). Slightly more (78%) of the decision makers
reported being involved in meals and laundry than non-decision
makers (72%).

Children's Work
 The mothers reported that their children became involved with
farm work at a very early age. Twenty-three percent of the
mothers reported that their four-year-old children helped with
farm chores. The percentages of children helping with farm
chores increased until age 11; 100% of the children between ages
11 and 19 were helping with farm chores.
 Women who reported their children under the age of 11
helped with the farm chores were significantly older (34 years)
than women whose children did not help (28.1 years). Mothers
with offspring who helped had significantly more children
(2.7)compared with their counterparts (1.7); they had
significantly less education (13.5 years compared with 14.1 years);
their husbands had significantly less education (12.5 years com-
pared with 13.7 years); and were married significantly longer
(13.13 years compared with 6.57 years). The differences were
significant at the .0001 level.
 The women's work involvement in the farm and ranch opera-
tion had a significant effect on their children's work contributions
to the farm, but not to household tasks. Significantly more
women who operated farm equipment and cared for livestock
reported their children also did farm work and cared for livestock
(p = .05). No relationships were found between the women's in-
volvement in farm work and children's.

Employed Farm Women
 Twenty-seven percent of the farm women were employed off-
the-farm. Their occupations included working as a teacher,
nurse, secretary, waitress, salesperson, nurse's aid or postmaster.
The employed farm women were significantly younger (average
age 41 compared to 46 years for the non-employed women). Age
was included as a covariate in the following analysis. Women
employed off-the-farm had fewer children, 2.71 compared to
3.34, were better educated (13 years of formal education com-
pared to 12 years), and had better educated husbands (12 years
versus 11 years). These differences were significant at the .01
level.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
 The acreage of farms in North Dakota, U.S.A., is relatively
high. One might think that, as the acreage has increased, the in-
volvement of women and children would have decreased. In
other words, family farms are usually thought of as being small.
However, the results of this study indicate that, while family
farms, i.e., small farms, are not common in North Dakota, fami-


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