Union reveals plans to end ‘male domination’
With agricultural organisations in Scotland coming in for criticism for being some of the last bastions still to be dominated by the male sex, NFU Scotland yesterday came clean and admitted that action was needed.
As the largest representative organisation in the agricultural sector, the union said it couldn’t deny that its all-male board of directors failed to accurately reflect the male/ female split of those working in the sector.
“However, scratching beneath the surface of NFUS provides a wider context of a staff split of 60 per cent women to 40 per cent men, and 25 women currently engaged in roles within regions, six chairing their local branch,” said the union’s legal and technical policy director, Gemma Cooper. However she added that, this aside, there was an acceptance within the union that these women representatives were the exceptions and not the rule, and she added that the organisation recognised that an evolution was required.
“There is some feeling that the union must be more inclusive,” she said, “but there are also those who caution against encouraging positive discrimination. The question remains as to where that line should ultimately be drawn.”
Outlining what the union was doing to get more women involved in its activities, Cooper also revealed some of the results of a survey carried out earlier in the year which looked at ways of getting more women involved in the higher echelons of the industry.
She said that, with an excellent response rate to the survey, several key themes had emerged, with the perception of male dominance being identified as one of the main barriers to more females engaging with the union: “Going hand in hand with this was the view, held by 89 per cent of respondents, that the best way to encourage greater engagement of women members was for NFU Scotland to have dedicated women in agriculture events.”
She said that as a result, a number of meetings were to be hosted later in the year focusing on getting more women involved in union activity – kicking off with two pilot events, one in Lothian and Borders and another in Argyll and Islands regions.
“In addition to this, NFU Scotland will also be hosting an event in the Dumfries and Galloway region, with a more ‘women in dairy’ focus,” said Cooper who added the union would also be looking for women to become mentors to others and to help move the equality issue forward.
“These events will be, as requested, a mixture of policy and outside speakers, and held at lunchtimes and in the evenings.”.
“Change will not happen overnight,” said Cooper, “but it is something that NFU Scotland is committed to achieving – watch this space!”