Farmers weekly female farmers.

[Holsteinfriesian90]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

 

[simgirl]

Never received any favours & never expected any, I've always been treated equally & with respect.

 

[Al R]

Making an issue out of what isn’t an issue

 

[Jackov Altraids]

Quite a lot of occupations have gender specific titles [or used to] but farming has always been gender equal as far as I was ever aware. We are all just farmers.

I'm sure it's just a slow news week with the NFU and RT trying to keep quiet.

 

[wanton dwarf]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

Saw the Farmers Weekly survey & TBH thought how insulting the whole idea is.

Family farming has been going on since forever, most farms in past generations wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for everyone in a family unit - including dogs, horses, bulls & other animals.

It's horrific division & TBH those involved should hang their heads in shame.

 

[livestock 1]

My grandmother was the farmer of the family while grandfather went out to earn a wage down the mine. Women in farming have always played their role same as my mother and auntie have done. Quite often women are better at lambing than the fellas are.

 

[kiwi pom]

There's a lot of companies making a fuss about the number of female employees they have these days especially if they have traditionally employed mostly males. To be fair they are forced into it to a degree with all the government/media nonsense.
Mrs KP has worked off and on as an agronomist for the same company for over 20 years, it's only recently that she's had to do these 'women in Ag' type things.

 

[kiwi pom]

Saw the Farmers Weekly survey & TBH thought how insulting the whole idea is.

Family farming has been going on since forever, most farms in past generations wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for everyone in a family unit - including dogs, horses, bulls & other animals.

It's horrific division & TBH those involved should hang their heads in shame.

I wonder how many female farmers are actually considered to be in charge if the farm also has their partner involved? I can't think of many, quite a few equal or a bookwork/assistant role but not many in charge with hubby either doing something else or taking orders.

 

[Bald Rick]

I wonder how many female farmers are actually considered to be in charge if the farm also has their partner involved? I can't think of many, quite a few equal or a bookwork/assistant role but not many in charge with hubby either doing something else or taking orders.

I have to take my trousers off at the door ... I know very well who's the boss.

She's retired from the farm side of things now but was very much my equal and more for the last 40 years.

I'll be thanking her if I'm not careful

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

Over here the term farmer is nongender specific and use the term "You must be the farmers wife???" at your own peril!!!
Equally with staff, ability to do the job is the preference, not gender.
On my maternal/horticultural side of the family and I'm not exactly young my Grandmother was the "boss" and still spoken about with fear by my 84 year old uncle!!! Maybe the UK is still 200 years behind the rest of the world!!!

 

[M-J-G]

We have 5 lady farmers that run their own business in our immediate area, 2 have their husbands work as employees, the others are single.
Never thought much about it until this thread brought up the question.

Interestingly only one of the 5 have children, maybe family life is more important to those who choose not to take full charge, just like is the case in many sectors.

Is there a division, I think not.
Division and victimization are appealing ideas to many people who want to feel better about themselves.

 

[kiwi pom]

Over here the term farmer is nongender specific and use the term "You must be the farmers wife???" at your own peril!!!
Equally with staff, ability to do the job is the preference, not gender.
On my maternal/horticultural side of the family and I'm not exactly young my Grandmother was the "boss" and still spoken about with fear by my 84 year old uncle!!! Maybe the UK is still 200 years behind the rest of the world!!!

When Emma Poole won the Kiwi young farmer of the year competition this year it was very disappointing to see media focusing on the fact, she was the first woman to win rather than the fact she was just bloody good and beat everyone.
Can't have equality as long as we keep praising someone because of their gender not their ability.
Outside of the media and HR reps I think we're pretty good in NZ for not making a fuss if a worker is male or female. There are certainly a lot in industries that would have been almost all male 30 years ago.

 

[easy farming]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

Really, really annoys my wife and daughter that they have these "woman farmer" of the year competitions. Including Women in Dairying conferences etc. If there was a Male farmer of the year or Men only conference there would be hell to pay.

 

[M-J-G]

When Emma Poole won the Kiwi young farmer of the year competition this year it was very disappointing to see media focusing on the fact, she was the first woman to win rather than the fact she was just bloody good and beat everyone.
Can't have equality as long as we keep praising someone because of their gender not their ability.
Outside of the media and HR reps I think we're pretty good in NZ for not making a fuss if a worker is male or female. There are certainly a lot in industries that would have been almost all male 30 years ago.

One farmer that I know well gets pretty annoyed at people even talking about women in farming, she says if people want to do it just get on with it and stop making women out to be victims, and that anyone who wants to buy a farm and go buy livestock or machinery will find that nobody will refuse your money because you're a woman.

 

[Oldmacdonald]

I think it's more about people's pre-concieved ideas.

 

[Gong Farmer]

Twas ever thus, from the time Women's Lib first started up. Highlight the differences between genders by promotion of one or the other.
Same with skin colour; if you really think there's no difference, then there's nothing to talk about.

 

[How Dairy]

I suppose an alternative view could be that an industry ought to demonstrate inclusivity if it wishes to attract people (in this case women) to the industry. It’s well documented that people are inspired by people they want to be like… having something in common with those people is what makes it feel attainable.

I’d say terms like ‘the dairy boys’ has a connotation that if you are a dairy farmer, you will be a ‘boy’. If I were a teenage girl (which I’m not!), I wonder if that’d put me off if I had options in other industries - especially if I had no experience in farming.

Farmers Weekly also ran a page a few years ago about skills a farmer’s wife is good at. It was ridiculously sexist and suggested that women were only capable of being a wife of a farmer - effectively a subordinate role. I wonder if this is a response to the bad press the article created.

I know many dairy farms that are run by women, either single-handedly or as an active role in a partnership. I think the perception from those outside farming is that this isn’t the case.

 

[Kidds]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

Why not take it as a compliment when someone points out and celebrates just how remarkably bloody good you all are.

 

[egbert]

Why are the farmers weekly making out there is some sort of male/female divide in agriculture? As a female involved in farming I don’t see we are any different than any other industry you see plenty of female lorry drivers, vets, doctors, nurses etc.

Maybe they are just hoping a few more people will buy the magazine. What are your thoughts?

OK. Tin hat in place.
I (male) hate the apparent fixation.
I have no issue with females filling trad male roles, and cut them slack if their (sometimes) slighter build means they might find wrestling bullocks/chucking bales harder work. That'd be like insisting you paid a smaller bloke less than a stronger one.

It gets quickly more complex when the numerous nuances come into play.
Employers supposedly aren't allowed to discriminate, despite it being patently obvious that a small scale business would quickly be crippled if it employed- for instance- disproportionately more females of child bearing age.
Conversely, I knew an ausssie businessman who exclusively hired settled older gals, cos they could do the specific job, and were statistically less likely to fail to show up each day. (He knew perfectly well that his selection process was illegal)

Farming is somewhat unusual, in that a great many farm businesses are also family units, where a team of 2 is likely to one of each, leading inevitably to some role specialisation.
And if one of the principals is also engaged in bearing and raising kids, the roles are just about inevitably going to be further determined.
That isn't a 'bad thing', or an indication that farming is somehow gender biased.

Flagging up that 'some girls can be farmers...wow!' is verging on the puerile.


It seems that Minette's most important qualification to head the NFU was her gender..... now that p1sses me off.

 

[serf]

Making an issue out of what isn’t an issue

UK is very good at that, never misses an opportunity to find a problem that's not there ...