The Red Wing Republican Eagle features a column by Minnesota Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, We have a lot to learn about helping rural women. She opens:
The day I asked my father if I could buy the farm, he said no. I was heartbroken. I was about 10 years old and thought that, of course, I would live my life nestled in the Minnesota River Valley near the Bend of the River in Mankato.
My heart broke and my stomach sank, first, because of the harshness of the answer, but also because I had no idea of what I would do with my life if I were not farming.
My father’s own limited education drove him to a strong belief that his daughters needed more and higher education, a belief I am sorry to say he may not have shared for my brothers.
He told me that day, as we dragged bales of hay to the cattle, that the expectation was that I would need to go to college and have a career. The strong implication was that this would be a career that did not involve a farm. . . .
Most of the column focuses on a new issue of the Rural Minnesota Journal, published by the Center for Rural Policy and Development, that's devoted to rural women's issues. Kelliher notes near the end of her column:
I sometimes wonder — if I were a 10-year-old girl today and asked my father if I could buy the farm, whether the answer would be different. My guess is my father would have still expected me to continue my education, but in 2008 he might have been able to envision my pursuing an agricultural career, which could include me buying my family farm or another nearby to run. . . .
As someone who grew up imagining we'd be nestling in the Minnesota River Valley, we know exaclty where she's coming from. The Rural Minnesota Journal is published in pdf format online here.
Brad Finstad, who decided not to seek relection this year as a Republican state representative from the New Ulm, is the new executive director of the nonpartisan center.
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