Agribusinesses pledge to lift their game on gender diversity

The National Farmers Federation will officially launch their Diversity in Agricultural Leadership Program (DiALP) with a lunch event in Canberra on Thursday.

The program will see eleven agribusiness and advocacy groups, as well as the Federal Department of Agriculture, pledge to do more to encourage a larger number of women into their workforces and leadership roles. 

Among those delivering a pledge will be crop technology multinational, Monsanto.

Women already hold 50 per cent of leadership positions within Monsanto - a figure that HR lead for Monsanto ANZ and Asia, Julia Bailey, said the company was very proud of.

Ms Bailey said Monsanto had been working on improving gender diversity for about a decade.

“We have fifty percent women broadly across the whole organisation and there is also no gender pay gap,” she said.

Ms Bailey said the company had taken some important steps in order to achieve these milestones.

This included creating self-awareness among leaders about unconscious bias towards people in the workplace, so that assumptions weren’t made about abilities.

Monsanto have also embraced a policy to attach salaries to positions, rather than leaving staff to negotiate packages when they apply for jobs. This had helped close the gender pay gap, she said.

Flexible arrangements for working mothers were also vital and had become ingrained in company culture.

“I am personally heartened by the way we treat our returning mothers,” she said.

“Working from home, job share, part time employment - this is something that is available to everyone.”

The Australian Agricultural Company will also make a pledge with chief executive officer Hugh Killen noting the company employed many females throughout its operations but had progress to make at a leadership level.

“We feel strongly about ensuring equal opportunity for all individuals, across our entire business,” he said.

“Outstanding female leaders are continuously emerging throughout the agribusiness sector. AACo is proud to be a DiALP partner to provide emerging leaders with a platform for ongoing development and support.”

As the first female president of NFF, Fiona Simson said the pledges were all about creating meaningful change.

She said it was also an opportunity for companies like Monsanto to share their tips for change and best practice with other organisations. 

“When we first started looking at this issue there was a recognition that many of our participating companies are at different stages on their diversity journey,” she said.

“Some are very advanced and some are just beginning and we wanted to capture them all with a pledge to make meaningful change in this area.”

Ms Simson said the news last week that AACo had signed Anna Speer as the pastoral company’s first female chief operating officer, was further proof times were changing.

“These pledges will be on the public record,” she said.

“It is a small start. It is our first go and we want to make sure it works and continue the program from there.”

Former Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association CEO, Tracey Hayes, will deliver the keynote address at Thursday's lunch, providing a frank account of her career and leadership journey.

Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Hon David Littleproud MP, will also share his vision for increased gender balance in the farm sector leadership.

The organisations making the pledge in 2018 are; the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, AgriFutures, Australian Agricultural Company, Consolidated Pastoral Company, Cotton Australia, NSW Farmers, Monsanto, Rural Bank, Rimfire Resources and Syngenta.

Thursday’s event will also launch NFF’s new mentoring program that will see eight aspiring female leaders paired with already-accomplished agriculture leaders.

Gender diversity has a long way to go in corporate Australia. 

But even by our low standards, agribusiness has fallen behind.

National Farmers’ Federation analysis shows just 2.3 per cent of chief executive officers in Australian agribusinesses are female, compared with an average of 17pc across other industries. 

Women comprise 13pc of all leadership roles in agribusiness - less than half the average of 28pc in non-ag related industries.

Women fare slightly better at the top of the corporate tree. 

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency found women had 38pc of management positions in the top 100 ASX companies, but just 10pc of executive roles.

Fairfax Agricultural Publishing will explore the important themes of gender diversity and sexual discrimination in agriculture in our series, Think Again, over the next three weeks.