Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T23:23:32.098Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Increasing Women's Participation in Agricultural Leadership: Strategies for Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Barbara Pini
Barbara Pini*
Affiliation:
Queensland University of Technology, School of Management, 2 George Street, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane QLD 4001, AustraliaPhone: 61 7 3864 9262, Fax: 61 7 3864 1766, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper uses data from a survey of women involved in the Australian sugar industry to present evidence of the strategies which could be introduced by agri-political groups to increase women's involvement in agricultural leadership. Of the 181 positions of elected leadership in the Australian sugar industry's agri-political group, CANEGROWERS, none is held by a woman. Factor analysis of the 233 returned survey responses revealed that there are five types of strategies that could be implemented to address this inequity. These are: organisational strategies, education and training strategies, remuneration strategies, support strategies and practical strategies. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the fact that few strategies have been adopted by agricultural organizations to address men's numerical dominance of positions of leadership.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 66 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2003 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acker, J. 1990, ‘Hierarchies, jobs and bodies: A theory of gendered organisations’ Gender and Society, vol. 4, pp. 139–158.Google Scholar
Adler, N.J., & Izraeli, D.N. 1988, Women in management world-wide, M. E. Sharpe, Armonk.Google Scholar
Aitchison, C., Jordan, F., & Brackenridge, C. 1999, ‘Women in leisure management: A survey of gender equity’, Women in Management Review, vol. 14, pp. 121–127.Google Scholar
Alston, M. 1995, Women on the land: The hidden heart of rural Australia, UNSW Press, Kensington.Google Scholar
Alston, M. 2000 Breaking through the grass ceiling: Women, power and leadership in agricultural organisations, Harwood, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Alston, M., & Wilkinson, J. 1998, ‘Australian farm women-shut out or fenced in? The lack of women in agricultural leadership’, Sociologia Ruralis, vol. 38, pp. 391–408.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics 1999, Farmers at work: The gender division, Australian Government Publishing, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 1999a, Australian social trends, ABS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 1999b, Marriages and divorces, ABS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 1999c, Population by age ands sex, ABS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Blum, T.C., Fields, D.L., & Goodman, J.S. 1994, ‘Organization-level determinants of women in management’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 37, pp. 241–268.Google Scholar
Bourque, L., & Fielder, E.P. 1995, How to conduct self-administered and mail surveys, Sage, Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar
CANEGROWERS' Council 1994, CANEGROWERS' Policy Handbook, Unpublished Brisbane.Google Scholar
Carter, S. 2000, ‘Improving the numbers and performance of women-owned businesses: Some implications for training and advisory services’, Education and Training, vol. 42, pp. 326–333.Google Scholar
Collinson, D.L., & Hearn, J. 1994, ‘Naming men as men: Implications for work, organization and management’, Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 1, pp. 2–22.Google Scholar
Conroy, D.K. 2000, ‘Public sector board composition in Australia: Leading the way’, in Women on Corporate Boards of Directors International Challenges and Opportunities, eds Burke, R. & Mattis, M., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 213–235.Google Scholar
Dempsey, K. 1992, A man's town. Inequality between men and women in rural Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Dimopoulos, M., & Sheridan, M. 2000, Missed opportunities. Unlocking the future for women in Australian agriculture, Stage 2 Report, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.Google Scholar
Elix, J., & Lambert, J. 1998, Missed opportunities. Harnessing the potential of women in Australian agriculture, Volume 1, Social Survey and Analysis, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and Department of Primary Industries and Energy, Canberra.Google Scholar
Fisher, M., & Hutchinson, P. 1998, ‘Involving rural women makes for powerful partners’ in Australian Rural Women Towards 2000, ed Alston, M., Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, pp. 47–60.Google Scholar
Garnaut, J., Rasheed, C, & Rodriguez, G. 1999, Farmers at work: The gender division, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canberra.Google Scholar
Gooday, J. 1995, Women on farms, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Canberra.Google Scholar
Grace, M. 1997, Networking systems for rural women, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.Google Scholar
Grace, M. 1994, Women in rural Queensland: An exploration of cultural contexts, educational needs and leadership potential, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Gray, I., & Lawrence, G. 2001, A future for regional Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Halford, S., Savage, M., & Witz, A. 1997, Gender, careers and organisations: Current developments in banking, nursing and local government, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Halpin, D., & Martin, P. 1999, ‘Farmer representation in Australia: Avenues for changing the political environment’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol. 58, pp. 33–46.Google Scholar
Harris, H. 1998, ‘Women in international management: The times they are a changing?’, International Review of Women and Leadership, vol. 4, pp. 6–14.Google Scholar
Haslam-Mackenzie, F. 1998, ‘Farm women and the “AF” word’, Australian Rural Women Towards 2000, Centre for Rural Social Research, Wagga-Wagga, pp. 23–30.Google Scholar
Haslam-Mackenzie, F. 1999, ‘Boys clubs: Discriminatory voting practices in agricultural industry organizations’, International Review of Women & Leadership, Special Issue, pp. 39–52.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. 1997, ‘Rurality and “cultures of womanhood‘”, in Contested Countryside Cultures: Otherness, Marginalisation and Rurality, eds Cloke, P. & Little, J., Routledge, London, pp. 123–137.Google Scholar
Lawrence, G. & Gray, I. 1997, ‘Social factors shaping the Australian sugar industry’, in Intensive Sugar Cane Production: Meeting the Challenges Beyond 2000, eds Keating, B. & Wilson, J., CAB International, Oxford pp. 71–86.Google Scholar
Liepins, R. 1998, ‘Fields of action: Australian women's agricultural activism in the 1990s’, Rural Sociology, vol. 63, pp. 128–156.Google Scholar
Liepins, R. 2000, ‘Making men: The construction and representation of agriculture-based masculinities in Australia and New Zealand’, Rural Sociology, vol. 65, pp. 605–620.Google Scholar
Limerick, B., Heywood, E., & Ehrich, L. 1994, ‘Women-only management courses: Are they appropriate in the 1990s?’, Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Resources, vol. 33, pp 81–92.Google Scholar
Little, J. & Austin, P. 1996, ‘Women and the rural idyll’, Journal of Rural Studies, vol. 12, pp. 101–111.Google Scholar
Media Link 1999, CANEGROWERS' Member Research: Final Report, Media Link, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. 1994, Qualitative data analysis, Sage, Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar
Pini, B. 2002a, ‘Crossing boundaries: “Women and management” meets “rural sociology’”, paper presented at the Academy of Management, Denver, USA, 08 11-14.Google Scholar
Pini, B. 2002b, ‘The exclusion of women from agri-political leadership: A case study of the Australian sugar industry’, Sociología Ruralis, vol. 42, pp. 65–76.Google Scholar
Pini, B. forthcoming a, ‘Feminist methodology and rural research: Reflections on a study of an Australian agricultural organisation’, Sociologia Ruralis.Google Scholar
Pini, B. forthcoming b, ‘Paternalism and managerial masculinities in the Australian sugar industry’ Rural Society.Google Scholar
Pini, B. forthcoming c, ‘The question of “the Italians” and women's representation in the Australian sugar industry’, Australian Geographer.Google Scholar
Poiner, G. 1994, ‘Landscapes with figures: Femininity and rural views’, in Country Women at the Crossroads, eds Franklin, M.A., Short, L.M. & Teather, E.K., University of New England Press, Armidale, pp. 51–59.Google Scholar
Pringle, R. 1988, Secretaries talk, Allen and Unwin, Wellington.Google Scholar
Qualitative Solutions and Research 1999, NUD*IST VIVO for Qualitative Research, La Trobe, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Sachs, C. 1996, Gendered fields: Rural women, agriculture, and environment, Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A. (1998) ‘Patterns in the policies: Affirmative action in Australia’, Women in Management Review, vol. 13, pp. 243–252.Google Scholar
Shortall, S. 2001, ‘Women in the field: Women, farming and organizations’, Gender, Work and Organization, vol. 8, pp. 164–181.Google Scholar
Simpson, R. 1995, ‘Is management education on the right track for women?’, Women in Management Review, vol. 10, pp. 3–8.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. 1994, Trials at the top: Chief executives talk about men, women and the Australian executive culture, University of Melbourne, Parkville.Google Scholar
Sinclair, A. 1998, Doing leadership differently, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Standing Committee on Women and Agriculture and Resource Management 2001, A vision for change: National plan for women in agriculture and resource management. Second Annual Implementation Report 1999-2000, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra.Google Scholar
Still, L.V. 1995, ‘Women in management: Glass ceilings or slippery poles?’, in Gender and Changing Educational Management, eds Limerick, B., & Lingard, B., Hodder Education, Rydalmere, pp. 106–120.Google Scholar
Whatmore, S. 1991, Farming women: Gender, work and family enterprise, Macmillan, Houndmills.Google Scholar
Women in Agriculture 1994, International post-conference proceedings, University of Melbourne, Melbourne.Google Scholar