Research funded by the Scottish government has been released which shows the role of women in agriculture, showing progress is being made but barriers remain.
The aim of the research is to investigate the role of women in farming and the agriculture sector in Scotland under five headings.
These are daily life, aspirations, career paths, leadership and comparative analysis with women in other family businesses.
During the research, the importance of inheritance, training and farm safety also emerged as important issues.
A number of barriers that women experience in the industry was identified within the report.
The key messages of the research was that women play a major role in Scottish agriculture, participating in the full range of farming activities.
But the cultural practice of passing on large farms intact to one son is the single biggest barrier to women’s entry into agriculture.
This means of land transfer is institutionalised culturally (i.e. it is a hegemonic practice) but not legally (i.e. there is no legal restriction against multiple inheritance or bequeaths to daughters).
'Barriers'
NFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick commented: “This report from the Scottish Government shows that there are barriers that stop some women taking on high profile roles in our industry, and this is something that both the industry and NFU Scotland want to address.
“The Union will be working further with the researchers and will take steps to address issues highlighted in this report.
“Earlier this year, NFU Scotland carried out a survey with its members about perceived barriers for women in engaging with the Union.”
Early this year, NFU Scotland sought views from its membership about engaging women in union work and the perceived barriers for those who wish to get involved.
Mr McCornick continued: “I was very pleased with the level of response we had, and there is a clear demand from women within our membership to get more involved.
“We want to empower women within our membership to get more involved with our work, at all levels. This autumn we will be hosting a number of events, aimed at women in agriculture, across Scotland, which will be the next step in this process for us.
“In addition to this, I have agreed to be personally involved in a new Scottish Government taskforce which has been set up in response to this report. I look forward to engaging more on this subject, as I believe it an important part of the future of NFU Scotland.”
