AgCareers Career Guide - September 2016 - CDN

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FFOR IRIS MECK, owner of Iris Meck
Communications Inc. and creator of the
Advancing Women Conference held in
Canada, it’s clear that women have not
always been accepted or treated equally
in the agricultural industry.
“When I started my career, it was
a different time,” Meck said. “Women
were being passed over for promotions
in favour of male colleagues. Women
not being taken seriously was a bigger
issue, with the assumption being that
they were only going to be working
for a few years until they got married,
had children, etc. This sort of attitude
really prevented women from rising in
companies.”
Shelby LaRose, Crop Production
Advisor with CPS Canada and former
Campus Ambassador
at the University of Saskatchewan
(pictured above), has also learned these
struggles just beginning her career in
agriculture.
“The majority of customers that I deal
with on a daily basis are male,” LaRose
said. “Some of them are great to work
with because they know I have four
years of schooling to back up any
decisions I make. Others sometimes
have an issue taking my opinion
seriously because I am female and these
customers would prefer to deal with
someone else (preferably male).”
While both men and women today
would tell you that the perception of
women in agriculture today has changed
for the better, a study done by
in 2015 sheds light on
the issues still faced by women in
agriculture. There were a significantly
higher percentage of men in a
President/CEO role, Director and
management positions while there were
more women in hourly and salaried
staff roles.
The more than 2,000 respondents
were also asked for their current base
salary in this survey done by
. Responses indicate a
disparity in pay between genders with
men typically earning more than women
in agribusiness.
Despite these results that
demonstrate a wage and hierarchy gap
in agribusiness, this
study also revealed that more than
ninety percent of both men and women
believe that women are an integral part
of agriculture.
IN CANADIAN AGRICULTURE
SHINING A LIGHT ON
by Kristine Penning, Creative Marketing Specialist
1/2 of women surveyed said
they had experienced
blunt sexism at work.
IrIs Meck
49%
of women felt
they would be
better
compensated
if they were
male.
of women hoped to advance
to a higher level role one day.
70%
women 79% of women felt there was gender
inequality in agribusiness. Just 47%
of men felt the same.
of both men &
women felt the
attitude toward
women in ag has
changed for the
better in the past
decade.
80%
18 Ag & Food CAreer guide