Married farm women's accessibility and ownership of farm and household credit and cash accounts was measured with a score constructed from various items in the 1980 National Farm Women Survey. The majority of women were found to be partially or not involved with the accounts, with variation among the women in regard to the degree of accessibility and ownership. Discriminant analysis indicated that farm women's education, age, and level of off‐farm income; stage of family life cycle; and the women's participation in farm decisionmaking, their perception of their farm involvement, and farm task participation distinguished between women with high scores and those with low scores. Attributes of farm women and characteristics which are unique to farm women in their interaction with their farms differentiated those who are financially involved with the farm and household accounts from those with little involvement. Farm characteristics, however, did not contribute to group differentiation.

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Off‐farm employment decisions of farm couples are analyzed with 1985 data from the S‐191 regional research project. The employment of one farm spouse is pos itively related to the off‐farm employment of the other spouse. Wives' off‐farm employment is most closely related to their personal characteristics, whereas husbands' decisions are best predicted by a combination of farm, family, and personal characteristics. These results were consistent regardless of whether hus bands and wives were studied separately or jointly with canonical discriminant function analyses. Part‐time farms are more likely to have the wife employed off the farm, thereby making the husband responsible for the daily operation of the farm. Wives on part‐time farms seem to substitute on the farm for their employed husbands, but husbands do not substitute as well for their employed wives. Wives simply add to their responsibilities rather than shifting them to others in the farm family.

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