	Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation
The		Report

No. 79:Stage 2 – Missed Opportunities:

Unlocking the future for women in Australian Agriculture

The full report

This is a summary of the RIRDC full report (DPI-29A) titled Missed Opportunities: Unlocking the future for women in Australian Agriculture. A copy of this full report ($20) and copies of the Stage 1 Report ($30) are available from RIRDC, phone 02 6272 4819, e-mail rirdc@rirdc.gov.au. You can also download a pdf copy or purchase one online from our E-shop.

In 1998 the Victorian Farmers' Federation initiated its Diversity Policy to integrate more women into its executive ranks. Included was a case study in Stage 2 of RIRDC Missed Opportunities research. The results are as follows:

· 10 women nominating as local VFF contacts
· Pastoral council having women in 3 of 16 positions
· Wool Committee having women in 2 of 8 positions
· Dairy has 25% of women on its councils
· 20 women indicating they planned to nominate for Department of Natural Resources positions

Women in the agricultural sector face a number of barriers impeding their rise to leadership positions despite major contributions totalling 48 per cent of national real farm income.

These barriers were identified in RIRDC's 1998 report Missed Opportunities – Harnessing the Potential of Women in Agriculture which detailed strategies utilising women more to aid the development of rural Australia.

The three main barriers identified were:

· Organisational culture – attitudes, communication channels

· Family unfriendly workplaces – lack of flexibility

· Self-perceptions among women that their skills and abilities are not adequate for the task

And three secondary barriers:

· Absence of role models and mentoring

· Lack of recognised experience – due to failure of organisations to apply merit principles while valuing of a narrow set of traits

· Lack of access to training

Missed Opportunities – Harnessing the Potential of Women in Agriculture was the first part of a three-stage research program. In the second stage researchers have implemented the stage one strategies in case studies of the Victorian and South Australian Farmers' Federations.

From this, researchers have developed seven critical success factors which will release the potential of women in agriculture.

The two organisations worked with change management consultants to implement relevant strategies from the Missed Opportunities report including analysis to determine what issues needed addressing, the priority of identified issues and the exact nature of the change process.

Strategies from stage one were built from best practice in agricultural groups, and importantly, from organisations outside the sector in corporate business, publicly funded organisations and educational institutions.

The Critical Success Factors

1. Understanding the Need for Change
The desired change must address some of the organisation's perception of need, or include raising awareness of that need. It must have benefits for the target audience that will be demonstrated during the program. It must also be understood in terms of the way in which the outcomes fit into current practices.

The primary driving force for both case-study organisations was realisation that without an injection of renewed membership support both organisations faced obsolescence.

2. Strong Leadership
Leaders whether they are Presidents, CEOs or local branch officials must take the initiative for change. In this project Regional Coordinators also demonstrated leadership by going beyond their 'comfort zones' to undertake tasks they had not undertaken before.

3. Change Agents
Equally important was the role of the change agent used to communicate the desired change in behaviour. The change agents needed enthusiasm and essential skills in communication and facilitation.

4. Involvement of the target group and stakeholders
The attitudes, beliefs and information held by the organisation must be established and a strategy devised to involve the audience in the development and implementation of the solution.

5. Evaluation
Evaluation should include measurement of

· Inputs - materials used

· Activities - attendance at meetings and workshops

· People involvement – number of inquiries after the meeting

· Reactions of participants

· Practice change

· End results

6. Reporting the results
In sharing results with other rural organisations the messages must be relevant to other organisations.

· The issues should be addressed in terms of the interests/concerns of all participants

· Existing knowledge and information held by other groups must be integrated into the program

· The result must demonstrate the benefit and costs to participants

· The messages should, where possible, be positive (focus on good practices) rather than negative (focus on avoiding poor practices)

· The practical implications of the behaviour change needs to be discussed fully

7. Sharing of results with other organisations
In attempting to share information a number of principles emerged

· Motivation of behaviour change

· Adoption of new practices

· Sharing of information sources

· Diffusion of results

Case Studies

Victorian Farmers' Federation

The Victorian Farmers' Federation (VFF) is Australia's largest and most representative state farmer organisation. The VFF represents Victoria's primary producers, and is primarily concerned with political, economic, industrial and social issues affecting agriculture – a key sector of the Victorian economy.

The VFF has more than 17,000 farmer members registered with 255 branches. However, the actual number of women members cannot yet be definitively answered. Women currently occupy 7% of all office bearer positions with the majority of those being Branch Secretaries.

The process of increasing the participation of women has been an issue for the VFF since the early 1990s. The dissatisfaction within the membership base, demonstrated by an increasing trend of declining membership numbers, highlighted the need for the VFF to question some of the organisation's most fundamental assumptions, particularly in relation to the needs and identities of VFF members.

The culture of the VFF in the past has been described by its members as exclusively male and dominated by established older farmers who were well networked. The VFF recognised it needed to change the way it engaged with its members, particularly with women. It was acknowledged that women form a large group within the VFF membership base and therefore should expect VFF attention.

The VFF's Women's Strategy was the first to be instituted in any Australian farming organisation and led to the development of the Diversity Policy 1998. This strategy presents a practical approach to help VFF respond to one of its most important, and too often untapped sectors - women. The aim of the strategy is to

· Improve the recognition of women as members and active participants of VFF programs, policies and services

· Understand and respond to women's needs by delivering them appropriate programs, policies and services

Many of the strategies identified in the VFF Diversity Policy were similar to those recommended in the Missed Opportunities Stage 1 Report. The VFF Executive was keen to implement their Women's Strategy and consequently saw involvement in the Stage 2 project as a method to trial their own initiatives. The main focus of the VFF Missed Opportunities Action Plan was based on implementing the six key women's strategies identified in the VFF Diversity Policy. These strategies targeting women include changes to

· Membership

· Administrative arrangement

· Policy development and rural advocacy

· Member training

· Development support programs

· Branch revitalisation

Eight regional forums were held throughout Victoria during June to September 1999 to promote and trial the Diversity strategies. Key outcomes of the trial include

· Increased participation at the local level

· Record number of women on VFF Councils

· Greater recognition of Women's Groups

· More effective organisational processes

The VFF, through its dedication to the diversity policy and to change within the organisation, have been successful in implementing numerous changes to their organisation. Many of these changes occurred relatively quickly in response to the forums that were held around the State, however, some changes will be more long term – and continue to be the focus of the VFF strategy over the coming years. In addition, the forums set the scene for ongoing development of the next stage in their Diversity Strategy by

· Implementing the internal administration changes that were discussed at the forums

· Developing the regional issues that were identified at the forums. This will be necessary to fully implement the strategy in the local areas

South Australian Farmers' Federation
The South Australian Farmers' Federation (SAFF) has 4,661 members registered with 118 branches, not all of which have presidents and secretaries. Unfortunately, the SAFF database cannot distinguish male and female members. However, there are currently 17 elected women (out of 214 positions) on various policy, commodity and board committees which represents less than 8% of positions overall.

In 1996, SAFF entered a new phase of operational structure. The constitution was rewritten, a strategic plan was prepared and job descriptions were revised. The intent of the restructure was to effectively address the needs of members and to run the whole organisation in a more efficient and effective manner.

SAFF took the opportunity to become involved with the Missed Opportunities project to enable critical examination of organisation procedures, particularly in relation to its women members. SAFF anticipated that some negative and critical feedback may be obtained through this consultation process, however it believes this feedback was essential in the process of reviewing organisational structures.

As part of its needs assessment, consultations with SA rural women were undertaken to identify possible strategies and potential blocks in implementing best practice to encourage women's leadership and participation in SAFF. This consultation highlighted external perceptions by members as the biggest barrier to organisational change.

Many of the women expressed concerns about transparency and following through with actions discussed at the forums. The challenge for SAFF in the organisation change process was to clearly demonstrate to its membership base (both women and men) that it takes their issues seriously and that it is willing to make its organisational processes even more transparent.

The SAFF action plan included three main objectives developed in accordance with Indicators for Successful Strategies in the Agricultural Sector identified in the Missed Opportunities Stage 1 Report.

These objectives were

· To recognise, encourage and develop the skills of women as leaders at all levels in agricultural management.

· Ensure a high level of participation by women in decision making in agricultural management

· Ensure participation of women in policy development and decision-making in agriculture management through the development of effective linkages between grassroots and industry level

A review of SAFF policies and processes was undertaken to assess if they were accessible and transparent. The review revealed that whilst internal policies relating to recruitment and staff were transparent, no public documents could be found which addressed member issues such as organisational structure or processes. As a result of the needs assessment and the review of policies and procedures, several strategies were initiated. These included:

· Development of a member's information package

· Review of the nomination process to the Research and Review Committee

· A new document was produced to give clear guidance as to what committee membership entails and the processes involved

Although the SAFF action plan identified a number of state-wide initiatives, the lack of financial resources limited actual trialing to two activities.

The Making a Difference Forum was held on Tuesday October 26 1999 at Naracoorte. Thirty women from the South Eastern Region attended the forum to discuss how they can make a difference by becoming actively involved with their farming organisation. There was a very clear indication from the women at the forum that community issues were their main interest and the reason for their involvement in the Federation. Issues such as school bus routes, health and education were of particular interest.

Women are less concerned about commodity issues than local community issues. Considering that in many cases it is the woman in the family that decides whether or not to write the cheque, SAFF needs to concentrate sufficient resources into making sure that these community issues are adequately addressed.

It was also obvious more women would like to be involved in SAFF, particularly at a branch level, but feel the meetings are not 'woman friendly'. Recommendations were made as to how these meetings could be improved to address the needs of women and younger people. These recommendations included having a central location, meeting outside working hours, having food and drink available, being more family orientated, and meeting in a non-threatening location (ie not the local pub).

This forum provided the vehicle for the establishment of a regional women's network. Two women nominated themselves to co-ordinate input of regional issues into the various SAFF Policy Committees. Ongoing local network meetings will be introduced.

In addition, the GST Program was used to pilot new strategies as women are the finance managers in many farm businesses and the GST information is extremely relevant. In organising the seminar and workshop times, instructions were given to the coordinators that the workshops be family friendly. The result of these arrangements was that a high proportion of the attendees were women who commented that the revised arrangements were most welcome.
The outcomes from the two forums, together with the best practice examples demonstrated by SAFF during the pilot period, were effectively used by SAFF as a vehicle to gain wider insight into its relationship with its membership. The organisation understands there are several groups within the farming community not being adequately represented by SAFF and is committed to change.

The internal review contributed to creating an environment where the strategic planning process will integrate the key issues that have emerged. There is now emphasis on the importance of SAFF as a learning organisation.

The SAFF Missed Opportunities Stage 2 Project is the start of a strategy to increase women's participation.