The Role of Women in NIFS

Any discussion of the role of women in NIFS must be preceded by a few comments regarding the involvement of women in the farm safety movement. Census figures in recent years have shown and increase in the numbers of women assuming farm management and production roles. This change also resulted in women acquiring increasing responsibility in the agricultural health and safety movement. The dominant roles of men in this field historically are due in part to the emphasis on farm machinery. Women were involved in the related field of home safety, usually through extension programs in home economics or women's programs initiated by farm organizations. Gradually agribusiness, health care providers and public health officials began promoting health and injury control for production agricultural workers and their families. These changes encouraged a more diversified role for women in the farm safety movement. In the 1970's increasing numbers of women were noted serving in key roles as safety educators and leaders in farm organizations, public and private health agencies, and extension safety programs for both youth and adults.

Among the early agricultural safety professionals in the United States was one woman, Katherine Olmsted from the New York Public Health Service. Olmsted was one of three individuals in present at the first meeting of farm safety professionals in 1945 in Chicago. The years following 1945 included an extensive period in which NIFS was composed exclusively of men. During the mid-1980's women's attendance at NIFS meetings increased, and by 1990, there were 15 women members in the organization. In 1992 Barbara Lee of the National Farm Medicine Center in Marshfield, Wisconsin, became the first full voting woman member of NIFS and was generally acknowledged for shaking up the male tradition of the organization. The 1993-94 NIFS membership roster indicated that 14 percent of the members were women. By 1994 three women had assumed major roles in NIFS: Robin Thompson and Becky Ryles were selected to chair key committees, and Barbara Lee was elected to the board of directors. In 1995, Barbara Lee became the first woman president of NIFS.