Farm Women Still Powerless

By ROBERT IRWIN

Farm women won't get the credibility and power they
deserve unless farm organizations and commodity
groups permit two votes per farm, according to
Kathryn MacDonald. Her recently completed thesis
for the Queen's University Master of Public
Administration program shows women's participation
in farm groups has declined from 3.9 per cent in
1990 to a current low of 2.4 per cent.
"If you don't have a vote you don't have a voice.
If you don't have a voice you're probably less apt
to go to the meetings. You're not going to be able
to influence the decisions or policies," MacDonald
warns.
"I don't think it's something our producers see as
a high priority item," says Wes Lane, Dairy Farmers
of Ontario Director of Communications and Planning.
"We have a number of ladies on our board."
Lane says dairy producer committees would probably
discuss changes in voting before the board would
consider increasing the number of votes per
enterprise. "It's been looked at two or three
times, and it's been decided to leave it where it
is," he says.
MacDonald is watching the Pork board closely
because it is the only Ontario farm group she found
which allows more than one vote per enterprise.
MacDonald says there are other reasons women should
not miss meetings. "You're not going to gain
experience so it makes it very easy for people to
say women don't have credibility."
MacDonald theorizes one reason farm women are
losing political clout is they feel a
responsibility to take care of the home, as
pressure mounts on farm families to become more
efficient. "Lots of women do the books and they
know how bad it is. Women do try to be strong," she
explains.
She concludes that the second wave of the women's
movement peaked in 1991 and may now be held back by
a backlash: "Women seem to be more cautious since
the massacre in Montreal."
The thesis, Women in Agriculture: Representation -
"Women Are Farmers Too", found women make up only
18 per cent of the federal House of Commons and
just 14.6 per cent of the Ontario Legislature. A
recent study of 776 Canadian businesses revealed
only 5.5 per cent of board members are women.
MacDonald contrasts these figures with census
reports showing an overall population of 52 per
cent women and a national workforce averaging 45
per cent women.
MacDonald and her husband operate a cow-calf
agribusiness in Camden East Township near Napanee. 
She has served two terms on the Ontario Farm
Products Marketing Commission, is a township
director on the Lennox and Addington Federation of
Agriculture and is a provincial director on the
board of the Ontario Farm Women's Network. She
currently works off the farm for Hastings,
Frontenac, Lennox & Addington MP, Larry McCormick.
The complete 100 page text of the thesis is
available for download from Farm & Country On-Line
at 1-613-678-5483 or 1-678-5485. 

back