Is agriculture sexist?

If you're relying on cold, hard data for answers, you're out of luck.

In its 2018 Fourth National Survey on Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) found that women in agricultural workplaces were less likely to be sexually harassed than the Australian average.

But only 35 women in agriculture, forestry and fisheries were surveyed.

On the other hand, almost three in every four of the 84 female employees from regional and remote areas interviewed in 2011 by researchers Skye Saunders and Patricia Easteal had experienced sexual harassment at work.

That would make sexual harassment three times more common for regional and remote women than those in the rest of Australia.

But only 14 of the surveyed women were employed in agriculture and were recruited via the 'bush telegraph' - hardly a random sample.

The small numbers in the Saunders and Easteal research were offset by the depth of their interviews, which revealed much about the reasons why sexual harassment has proven so difficult to prevent.

The researchers stressed the importance of thorough workplace harassment policies and accompanying training in those policies.

"These provide a confident platform upon which employees might rely on in reporting incidences of workplace harassment," Saunders and Easteal wrote.

"This is a crucial area because, in the absence of good workplace policies, it has emerged that the default position is as described by one participant:

"'Well, it's been described to me as the 'fit in or fuck off' policy.

"'You have probably already heard about that in other interviews today! (Laughs).

"'So there is that pressure there to stay in the job, do the job.

"'I think some women fall into the trap of becoming one of the boys.

"'And if you don't fit in then you are gunna find it hard to find a job'."

READ MORE: 'Quick buck out of me': producer calls for attitude change

The shortage of reliable data about sexual harassment in agriculture can't be blamed on a lack of potential interviewees.

For the last 20 years, the proportion of women employees in the industry has been a steady 30 to 32 per cent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports.

While certainly in the minority, the women who do work in the industry are a force to be reckoned with.

ABS reports half were managers in 2016 and the number who completed a non-school qualification in agriculture grew by 23pc over 5 years: four times the rate of men.

But, when it comes to shaping the agenda, women in agriculture continue to stand back.

National Farmers Federation (NFF) president Fiona Simson has made history as the face of Australian farming but she's far from typical.

In fact, the NFF reports agricultural commodity councils are 91pc men and 9pc women.

It's an alarming statistic the NFF is determined to change, setting a goal to double the number of women in agricultural leadership positions by 2030.

In response, it developed the Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program, which runs a mentoring program for aspiring female leaders in agriculture.

It also supports the Visible Farmer campaign aimed at increasing the profile of female farmers.

The Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program matches successful applicants with a mentor who work together over six months to establish leadership goals and a plan to reach them.

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