New Zealand is blessed with natural beauty and resources, making it a leading tourist destination and producer of some of the world’s most sought-after food, beverages and fibres.¹

Driving around the New Zealand countryside today, you will see many examples of thriving farming businesses, tourism ventures, local small businesses and communities. High-tech farming operations sit alongside vine-covered hillsides, plantation forest alongside vast tracts of native bush. The critical role of the primary sector and tourism to New Zealanders’ economic, social and cultural wellbeing is plain to see.

But while our natural environment provides us with rich resources and stunning landscapes, the success of the primary sector and the resilience of our rural communities comes from our people.

“He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata he tangata he tangata”. This well-known Māori proverb says “What is the most important thing in the world; it is the people, the people, the people”.

New Zealand’s world leading agriculture sector is the result of generations of hard work and determination. It is built on the backs of both men and women.

In summarising the past, present and future of rural women in New Zealand, three key themes emerge: resilience, recognition and adaptation.

Resilience
The story of women on the land and in rural communities in New Zealand is one of resilience.

New Zealand farms historically have been family farms, and that is still the case for many farming enterprises today.

For earlier generations of New Zealand farming women, life was incredibly tough, and women worked extremely hard.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister and head of the United Nations Development Programme, the Right Honourable Helen Clark, recalls her grandmothers being an integral part of the farm labour force, raising their families and having to be largely self-sufficient - they made everything they needed, including churning the butter.

At the same time, they were active in their communities and found ways to connect with other women for support and to share their experiences. One grandmother would ride her horse (usually with an infant as well) to meetings of the local Country Women’s Institute.

There have been many examples in our history of rural women doing remarkable things to sustain their families, farm businesses and communities through tough times.

Women joining the ‘land army’, assisting on farms to keep food supply flowing during both world wars. Women sewing and maintaining gardens to keep the family and farm workers clothed and fed. Women stepping up to run the farm in times of illness or the loss of a husband or partner, such as the woman who was in the shed for morning milking, when her husband had died of a heart attack in the night. Ask anyone in a rural community and you will hear many similar stories of resilience and determination.

While modern life has overcome many of the hardships women historically faced, farming today still requires great resilience to manage its ups and downs, including the vagaries of the weather, volatile prices and changing market or regulatory requirements.

Rural women have continued to be active in helping themselves, by establishing community organisations to support to rural families and communities, develop their skills and knowledge and overcome their social isolation.

Rural Women New Zealand is an organisation that provides friendship, support and learning opportunities for rural women. It began as the Women’s Division of the Farmer’s Union in 1925, in response to hardships facing many farm women, particular those in isolated areas, coping with loneliness and illness with little support.

Undoubtedly its founders would be proud to know that the organisation continues to this day. They would also be proud to know that in 2018, dairy farmer and industry leader Katie Milne was elected as the first female President of the modern successor of the Farmer’s Union, Federated Farmers of New Zealand.

Increasingly, rural women are working together to unlock their potential and overcome the challenges of isolation. For example, the Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT), established in 2009, aims to equip and support women to generate economic, social and environmental progress in the primary sector and rural communities. AWDT develops programmes that give women the tools, knowledge and confidence to lead and contribute in new ways.

The Dairy Women’s Network is another example of women farmers coming together. The Network of members and volunteers around the country aims to empower farm businesses through connections and knowledge.

Recognition
At present, a key focus is on improving recognition and awareness of the contribution of rural women, including to the success of farming enterprises. Women have been at the heart of New Zealand’s rural communities and fundamental to the success of our primary sector; however, traditional assumptions about the roles of men and women often mean the contribution of rural women to farming or production is underestimated or overlooked.

One example shared by Kimberly Crewther, Executive Director of the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand, is the perception that the men are ‘the farmers’, while a woman on the farm is the ‘farmer’s wife’. However, in the three generations of dairy farmers in her family, women have been partners and played a crucial role in the business, with their own areas of expertise. Kimberly’s grandmother went from being a city girl to farming, as part of the land army keeping dairy farms running during the war (she married a farmer and continued to make a huge contribution to the running of the farm). Or Kimberly’s mother, who ran the farm’s herd genetic improvement programme, spent summers driving hay and silage contracting machinery, milked cows, did farm budgets and could be considered nothing less than a full partner in the business.

Attitudes towards the roles of both men and women on the farm are changing. There is greater awareness of the value of women’s contribution to the farming business, and acceptance of both men and women deviating from traditional roles. Increasingly, family farms are seen as a partnership when run by husband and wife teams.

Fulfilling women’s potential starts with women themselves learning to recognise and value their own skills and experience. Lindy Nelson, founder and Executive Director of the AWDT, has seen many examples where women who participate fully and contribute to the farming business and rural communities have made a huge impact. She has seen women contributing to strengthening the financial viability of farms and rural businesses, participating in major regional economic projects, helping to shape public policy and increasingly shaping business strategy through their involvement at the governance level.

The next generation of women are also developing new ways of doing things, such as mobilising collaborative efforts to drive specific change initiatives and projects in the community. There has been an increasing trend of older women in the sector drawing on their experience to lead major rural community projects and business initiatives. Women of all generations who are speaking up and taking on visible leadership roles are helping inspire and encourage others to do the same. There are also many examples of women leaders being developed by the rural sector, who go on to national leadership roles in government and industry as well as on the world stage.

More work is needed to normalize women’s leadership (so appointing a woman to a leadership role is no longer newsworthy!) and to recognize and value the skills and experience of rural women.

Adaptation
Since the mid to late 20th century, the nature of farming in New Zealand has changed significantly, reflecting wider social, cultural, environmental, political and economic changes. For example, to compete on the world stage without subsidies or other safety nets, farming has had to become more of a commercial enterprise rather than a lifestyle.

While the evolution of farming has created many benefits, including strengthening the export competitiveness and sustainability of the primary sector, there is also potential for these changes to further isolate rural women both physically and socially.

The skills needed by people working on farms or in supporting services has also been changing over time, potentially raising barriers to women’s participation where they are not easily able to access training or have the time or opportunity to gain qualifications required.

The compliance burden on farming has also changed significantly. This has had an impact on family farming, for example making it more difficult for children to be involved in the farm, or for other family members to contribute. Often the demands of farming mean it can be more difficult for women to maintain involvement in the community and their wider connections. Women have also begun to do more work outside the farm to supplement farm income.

Young Māori women being encouraged to take leadership in the farming governance roles for the first time, or returning to family or Iwi farming operations, also need support. Mavis Mullins, who over her career has run a successful shearing contracting company and is a leader in agriculture in New Zealand, has highlighted how important it is to help younger, highly qualified, professional Māori women to integrate into the primary sector environment to learn the language and systems around land-based activities.

Mavis also shared a great example where the melding of farming and professional skills has led to important innovation. A young woman, who was a trained physiotherapist, came to them and took a job as a wool-handler and learner shearer. She immediately identified the need to properly assess the physical demands of the various roles in the shearing shed, and developed tailored, pre-employment fitness and training programmes that enabled the workforce to be better prepared for their employment and minimize work injuries.

To adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world, there are also opportunities for public policy to help strengthen the role that rural women can play in a number of key areas:

digital connectivity, access to life-long learning opportunities, integrated approaches to regional development, and profiling successful rural women.

Strengthening digital connectivity
New information technology can also provide solutions to reduce isolation and enhance access to knowledge. However, while we increasingly live in a digital world, many rural women are still not able to connect to the internet.

Increasing connectivity is essential to provide women with the knowledge and tools they need, and where it is available, technology is proving to be transformational in terms of women’s contributions and well-being.

The rise of e-commerce also has the potential to better connect rural women to the marketplace, while increased participation of women in agribusiness is providing more opportunity for women to be part of designing and developing our products and services of the future and shaping the stories to better connect farms to consumers.

Access to lifelong learning
The way we develop skills and knowledge in the future is likely to look very different. Existing training providers and institutions are exploring how to better support lifelong learning, such as greater use of online learning tools and development of micro-credentials. Rural women will need to have ready access to training and support to take up new technologies and participate in the digital economy, if they are to avoid creating new barriers to women’s participation.

Governments can promote policy frameworks that support life-long learning and help to ensure that learning opportunities are accessible to rural women and meet their learning needs.

Integrated approaches to regional development

In New Zealand and elsewhere, there is an increasing focus on how to grow and sustain regions, as more and more people move to the cities. Investment in infrastructure and maintaining rural services (including for education and health) is essential to ensure that even the most remote communities are able to thrive.

Governments can help to ensure that opportunities for regional development are considered from multiple perspectives, and carefully consider the social and cultural impacts of proposed economic or environmental initiatives on local communities. They can also ensure that rural women are at the table, participating in the design and development of policies and programmes that affect them.

In many parts of the world women continue to face discrimination in terms of access to and ownership of land, to credit and training opportunities. There is evidence to show that if women had the same access to resources and education that men have, there would be significant increases in productivity and food security. Continuing to work to eliminate gender-based discrimination is critical, as the consequences are costly for the women concerned, but also for the whole of society.

Profiling successful rural women and role models
The future success of the rural sector relies on increasing the participation of women and girls in agriculture and farming enterprises and the service sectors that support them, including in science, technology, business and marketing. There is a huge opportunity to inspire women through sharing the stories of others who have gone before them. Business, government and communities can work together to raise the profile of rural women’s role and contribution.

Conclusion
Women’s participation and contribution to farming businesses and rural communities have far-reaching implications for food security, as well as economic and social progress. New Zealand’s experience is that women contribute significantly to the resilience of farms and local communities. Increasing recognition and valuing of their role, skills and experience is opening up further opportunities for women to contribute. Continuing to remove barriers to their participation and supporting women to realise their full potential will be key to successfully adapting to future challenges and opportunities.