Leadership Research Summary:
- In Queensland, Australia, more than half of all women working in agriculture are employed as farmers or farm managers, and they contribute 33 percent of all on-farm income. However, women play a major role in contributing to day-to-day living and farm survival through their off-farm earnings, which is estimated to contribute an estimated $2,715 million or 84 percent of all off-farm income. Despite this major economic and social contribution, little is known about the barriers they face in achieving their leadership goals.
- In this article researchersanalyze qualitative data from workshops with Queensland farm businesswomen using Acker’s concept of the “ideal worker” and inequality regimes theory (1990, 2006) to highlight the issues farm businesswomen face when aspiring to become leaders and we develop the concept that the “ideal farmer” is male. We find that there is a long way to go for these women in the state of Queensland to achieve their leadership goals in this traditionally male-dominated industry. The study identifies that woman want to expand their roles and undertake leadership opportunities and be recognized by their partners and industry for the contributions they make. Structural (micro) and organizational (meso) level barriers and enablers both hinder and assist farm businesswomen to achieve their leadership goals.
Leadership Research Implications and Findings:
- The research identifies that women’s contribution to the farming and agriculture sector, and to rural and regional communities has been underestimated. We know, historically, that when compared to males, women have been “invisible” and unacknowledged as farmers (Williams, 1992; Alston, 2003; Annes et al., 2021). This aligns closely with Acker’s concept of the “ideal worker” and the continued hegemonic dominance of men in the agriculture industry which continue to create inequalities for women (Acker, 1990, 2006; Annes et al., 2021). The concept of the “ideal worker” has been used widely in academic literature and while this concept focuses specifically on workers in companies and organizations, we suggest that the concept of the ideal worker can be extended to farm businesses in relation to the impact inequality regimes have on farm businesswomen.
- The analysis revealed that these women are struggling for recognition in the shadow of their male farming counterparts. They undertake the management of traditional gender roles and so are encumbered by the responsibilities of the family and the home in addition to working in the farm business. On many occasions they are not recognized publicly for their contributions to farm management, thus rendering their work as farmers “invisible.” In this respect, we therefore extend the concept of Acker (1990) “ideal worker” by introducing the concept of the “ideal farmer” (Ressia et al., 2020) to distinguish a worker who is focused on work on the farm external to the house, without any family and/or childcare responsibilities; a worker who has been seen historically as a man with household and family work undertaken by his wife or partner. We have related this concept to the feelings of women farmers, of being the “invisible farmer” (Rasplus, 2020b, 2021; Annes et al., 2021) a feeling identified by some respondents in the (Queensland Farmers Federation [QFF], 2018) (survey and discussed in the work of Alston (2015).
- Unfortunately, we see the legacy of the “invisible female farmer” continuing today. The ABS recognize that using the number of individuals who report farming as their main job cannot completely measure a women’s contribution, as “farming families” are officially recognized by the ABS as the main mode of agricultural production in Australia (Alston, 2015, p. 189). Therefore, women’s individual contributions are still unrecognized (Alston and Whittenbury, 2013, p. 124) in multiple ways, and there is still inadequate policy and industry attention that recognize and support women’s various work, care, and community roles (Alston, 2015, p. 194). Policy formation has often ignored and/or trivialized women’s contributions to their families, communities, and industries (Alston, 2015) and this creates further barriers, as identified in this research, that contribute toward women farmers’ inability to achieve opportunities for leadership within the industry.
- Researchers acknowledge that there is still a lack of information about the detail of women’s roles on farms but we do know from our analysis that women’s roles are complex. These women have a wide range of responsibilities related their farm businesses, innovation, entrepreneurship, and family care. While the barriers we identified from the workshop discussions are not new, the culture of masculinity in the industry is having an effect on women’s ability to achieve true recognition as farmers, as well as opportunities for leadership. We see that what makes this issue even more problematic are the cultural norms around the image of the famer, and farm businesswomen not seen as fitting the mold of the “ideal farmer.” Combined with the impact of remoteness and their inability to access support, this creates conditions that make it more difficult for farm businesswomen in Australia to achieve their leadership goals.