Over the past month, Fairfax Agricultural Media has been exploring issues around gender diversity and sexual harassment in rural and regional Australia.
Our special series, titled Think Again, asked readers to consider why agriculture had lagged behind other occupations on the issue of gender diversity and what aspects of rural culture facilitate higher rates of sexual harassment in rural workplaces.
We also explored the latest research on the issue and highlighted work being done to help rural employers create workplaces that actively discourage sexual harassment.
We hope these stories encourage more employers and rural men and women to ‘Think Again’ when it comes to these complex issues.
Agribusinesses pledge to do more on gender diversity
Syngenta, Rural Bank and the Consolidated Pastoral Company were among a handful of leading agribusinesses to publicly pledge their commitment to greater gender diversity.
The National Farmers Federation launched its Diversity in Agricultural Leadership Program (DiALP) with a lunch event in Canberra.
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.
NFF: We need to know who is out there
A new mentoring program for promising female, rural leaders was not about promoting women without ability, according to National Farmers’ Federation president, Fiona Simson.
Ms Simson said the Diversity in Agriculture Leadership program aimed to create a larger pool of talented females, ready to take on leadership and executive level opportunities.
Beating the bush ‘boys club’
Australian agriculture is taking action to improve gender balance in its workforce, but significant challenges remain at all levels of the farm community.
According to the federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency, women comprise 41 per cent of the agricultural workforce, but fill 18pc of management roles - compared to an average of 43pc across all industries.
A mere 2.3pc of chief executive officers in Australian agribusinesses are female, compared with an average of 17pc across other industries.
Work is needed to retain female agronomists
Maree Crawford leads by example every day she turns up to work.
As the northern zone technical services manager for Elders, Ms Crawford heads up the technical platforms and agronomic teams for northern NSW and Queensland.
She is also a board director of Queensland Crop Research and the chair of the Australian Summer Grains Conference.
Recognised by multiple Women in Agriculture Awards, Ms Crawford believes more work was required to reach gender equality in agriculture.
A ‘culture under construction’ on sexual harassment
Three years after publishing her groundbreaking thesis detailing a ‘cultural epidemic’ of sexual harassment in rural Australian workplaces, Dr Skye Saunders has turned her attention to the complaints processes around sex discrimination.
The new research project comes just months after fierce public criticism that Catherine Marriott’s name was leaked when she made a confidential sexual harassment claim against former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce to the WA National Party.
The research showed 73 per cent of employees said they had been sexually harassed by a colleague, while 70 per cent said they had witnessed a colleague being harassed in the workplace. In the agricultural industry, 93 per cent of women said they had been harassed.
