Unlocking the Talent of Rural women
Agriculture’s glass ceiling appears to be cracking as the number of women entering academic studies at Lincoln University surpasses men, and it’s been trending this way since before the pandemic.
A male-dominated industry is one defined by 25 per cent of the workforce being women, and agriculture, horticulture and agribusiness has for generations been certainly classified as such. However, there is a significant paradigm shift occurring in New Zealand’s primary industries among the current generation, with more women than men embracing careers in food and fibre – from environmental science to food marketing.
As a former high school student once talked out of a career in agriculture – it was deemed as only for those ‘less academic students’ – I found myself witnessing something that would expel this belief forever at the 2022 Lincoln University Awards. Woman after woman walked across that stage, accepting award after award – the brightest stars and our future leaders, about to graduate and make an impact in our nation’s most valuable industry.
This trend in winning academic awards across all the fields of study is reflective of the Lincoln University roll of 3,563 seeing the majority (1,927) as female, and has been the trend since 2018. The trend is heading in one direction, with 55.4 per cent of the student roll at the land-based university identifying as female in 2023, up from 52.4 per cent at the same time last year. The impact of the rise in females across the sector is being felt with more women participating around farm and board tables, such as the recent appointment of Mt Somers Station co-owner Kate Acland, appointed as the first female chair of Beef + Lamb NZ.
The movement has been happening over the past decade largely due to the Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT), established in 2009 by Lindy Nelson from a desire to grow primary industries by unlocking the talent of rural women. Fifty per cent of people in the rural sector are women but they have had little involvement in the decision-making. Unlocking that confidence provides the diversity of experience and thought to our sector’s challenges.
AWDT recently held a one-day workshop and mentoring programme preparing young women to make an impact in food and fibre, called Generation Change. It has seen 175 women who are in tertiary study, training, or in the first few years of their career, attend three programmes in 2022 and 2023, including 51 in Christchurch. As one of the speakers at Generation Change this year, it was rewarding to see a room of emerging female leaders being nurtured by mentors across the sector on how to action their dream careers. ‘As our food and fibre sector grapples with change, it needs new talent and it needs it fast,’ explains AWDT Chief Executive Lisa Sims. ‘It’s exciting and heartening to see the young women we’ve worked with embrace their self-awareness, inspiration and connections they need to fast-track them into careers with impact.’
Lincoln University must be doing something right to match both the career aspirations of students, as well as the employment needs of the land-based sector, as their students are the most likely to find employment in New Zealand at 84.2 per cent (Tertiary Education Commission’s Post-Study) compared to graduates of any other New Zealand university. Whilst this is a significant milestone for women breaking the glass ceiling, it’s also a concern for the declining trend in men entering into academic study in the rural sector. Morrill Institute says there has been a significant decline in student attendance at Lincoln in the past decade, partly from the 2011 quakes. The decline has been larger in men – from 1,555 students in 2011 to less than 800 the past few years. The Christchurch-based educational think tank says men are under-represented in every university across the country, and this needs to be addressed.
‘Ironically, it’s now the young men that are at risk [of] being left behind, something we are increasingly hearing from employers and parents. Our sector needs all talent, and it’s time to look at how young men can be better supported,’ concludes Lisa.
