“Consolidate the love of the home in the rural classes”. Gender and agricultural extension in the early 20th century

Abstract

This article proposes an analysis of agricultural extension programs aimed at rural women during the 1910s and 1920s. In these decades, several efforts from the Ministry of Agriculture oriented towards the training of rural women come to fruition, considering them as a key factor in the settling of producers in the countryside. These policies can be seen as a precedent of the work carried out by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology since 1956. From a gender perspective, we will focus on the roles assigned to rural women –seen as responsible for the improvement of living conditions in rural areas– and the expectations generated about them.