View all images of the Women's Land Army
Women of all ages and from a variety of backgrounds played an integral role in the success of the Emergency Farm Labor Service. Women who were recruited to work became part of a nationwide group known as the Women's Land Army (WLA). The WLA had its own insignia and uniform, although the uniform was not widely adopted. Soon after passage of Public Law 45, statewide responsibility for the WLA was given to Mabel Mack, the OSC Extension Service's nutrition specialist.
Most women worked on a "day haul" basis -- they lived at home and were transported to farms by personal cars, growers' trucks, or school buses. They hoed, weeded, thinned, and harvested crops of all kinds. Many supervised youth platoons, especially teachers out of school for the summer. A few worked year round, especially on poultry and dairy farms. Others worked in canneries or were leaders for recruiting other women. Nearly 135,000 placements of women were made in Oregon from 1943 through 1947.
