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Women in farming -- the issues

 It seems that our farm is the exception, as such a high percentage of our labour force is women.  We examined many of the historical tasks, and I will say with a great deal of confidence that mechanization is at the root of this change.  An example is a classic hay bale weighing between 35 and 65 kg.  We never used such baling equipment, we use round balers that produce half-ton bales that are handled by tractors.  

In the UK, most feed gains were delivered in 55kg bags, but we have it delivered in mini silos by the ton.  The difference is that commercial farming requires less physical strength.  The only part of the farm that requires brut strength is the meat processing plant.

Granted, our initial labour pool was dominated by women, as picking is the most important activity on the farm,  but as the farm grew, almost all our new jobs were first offered to our current employees, the two idiots we recently fired proved that hiring outside our usual labour pool was a mistake!  

I have already given stats on the division of labour on the farm, 70% of pickers are women, 50% our of dairy team are women, 35% of our mechanics are women and 30% of our warehouse personnel are women.  Finally, 100% of our butchers are men -- this is the only activity that still requires brute physical strength.  Our mechanics used to be entirely men, the change occurred this year.  As for maintenance and security, only 20% of the team are women.  Surveillance is not physically demanding but maintenance can be hard.  Trust me rebuilding a fence is physically demanding.

My point is not that women are not strong, in fact, several are very strong, and we have the odd exception who are very very strong.  But in general, they self-select for jobs that do not require great physical strength.  Finally, and this is not only on our farm, women tend to be less hard on equipment, tractors that are operated by women have fewer breakdowns.  

Anyway, we also suspect that generally, the availability of childcare is a determinant factor for women working in a farming environment.  


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