How did the military draft during the Civil War affect the lives of women and children on the typical small farm in the South? The absence of the family patriarch empowered women and children and gave them a new sense of control over their lives. Men's service in the Confederate army allowed women and children to learn agricultural skills and made them self-reliant. Men's absence from home meant that women and children isolated on farms were subject to frequent incidents of crime and violence. The absence of husbands and fathers left women and children to grow their own crops, which led to rising levels of hunger and poverty.