‘Nearly half of farmers women’
With many farms run by married couples, the role of women in farming is a critical one, a female dairy farmer says.
Jessie Chan-Dorman, a former dairy woman of the year, said male farmers could see every day how women contribute to the business, and they respect that. ‘‘I would say the percentage of women in farming is at least 50 per cent. Nearly every farming business has a partnership that has historically not been seen. But they’ve always been there.’’
The 41-year-old is a married mother-of-two and a dairy farmer in Dorie, Mid Canterbury, with a herd of 900 cows on 420 hectares of leased land. She says in her farming career she has experienced the odd sexist or racist comment, but people are mostly interested in her Chinese heritage.
Women were getting more acknowledgment these days, and it’s more common for women to take leadership positions in farming, she said.
‘‘We have a brilliant manager who is a woman. She’s great with cows and actually our team has always had quite a high proportion of women in it. They’re really amazing with stock, they have empathy for stock.’’
Her own farming partnership with her husband has found a natural balance that plays to each of their strengths. While husband Hayden is dyslexic, he is the practical, kinesthetic one, Chan-Dorman said.
‘‘He’s an amazing farmer and has an ability to see what’s ahead a week out, a year out, 10 years out. My strength is backing that up with data and recording and compliance.’’
The strategy side of the business is a team effort, although they don’t always agree, she said. ‘‘Around the board table if you all agree, you’ve got a problem. We bat ideas around and it can get quite vocal at times, but in a good way.’’
Chan-Dorman is a director of Ruralco and the Ashburton Trading Society, a rural supplies co-operative, as well as being a director of the Biosecurity Research Centre.
She stood down from the Fonterra Shareholders Council when her 3-month-old son Noah was born.
‘‘It’s really nice to have that one-onone time when they’re a newborn. There is a trade-off. A study I saw recently said that the most stressed out people were working mums. You can definitely juggle things but it will always be harder for women in that respect.’’
She has also spent much of her life in leadership and governance roles for the agricultural sector.‘‘When I get asked to participate in women’s events and women’s forums, which I do a bit, I kind of reflect on the fact that I was raised by a man. It was a very good grounding and we were taught from a very young age that the world was what we make of it. And it didn’t matter if we were male or female.’’
Chan-Dorman will speak at a Global Women event in Christchurch, one of a series of events to celebrate International Womens Day this week.
‘‘One thing that Dad taught me is that it’s how you show up with your own perceptions of yourself to start with. I just show up as any other person and I’m treated as any other person.’’
Global Women are running a series of events in March for International Womens Day in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, which will celebrate diverse female role models.