Both statistical and anecdotal evidence are proving that the worlds of seed and agriculture are welcoming more women than ever into their ranks.
First, the global stats: the latest research from international accounting firm Grant Thornton shows that women now hold 25 per cent of senior leadership roles globally. A recent report from Catalyst — a non-profit organization working to increase and accelerate female representation in the workplace — shows that in Canada in 2015, women accounted for more than a third of all managers, and almost 32 per cent of senior managers.
According to the same report, women made up 42 of the 526 C-level executives among Canada’s 100 largest publicly traded corporations in 2016.
While these numbers might seem stark, they suggest the future is bright. The Catalyst report notes that the percentage of women in senior roles is slowly growing worldwide, and according to Grant Thornton, a rise in female CEOs sparks hope for the future — the number of women taking the top C-suite position of chief executive officer is now at 12 per cent globally, up from nine per cent in 2016.
Those statistics mesh with what women in the industry have been noticing for a while. According to DuPont’s latest Women in Canadian Agriculture Overview, women comprise about 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force globally and in developing countries, but female farm operators, for example, are typically more well-educated than men, with more women attaining a secondary school certification than men, and more women attaining a college diploma or undergraduate degree (men were more often educated in the trades).
Theresa Bolton is corporate director of recruiting at Parrish & Heimbecker in Winnipeg. She was ordering work wear for last year’s summer students when she noticed something interesting.
“I was ordering as many female golf shirts as male golf shirts. I looked at the numbers and thought, ‘Gee, is this ever close.’ It was 48 per cent female and 52 per cent male,” she says. “This year it was the same, but we ended up hiring more females than males. I looked at all the applicants, and it turns out there’s more women than men.”
Erin Armstrong has seen the same pattern.
“When I entered my undergrad program at the University of Manitoba, it was around 25 per cent women in the Faculty of Agriculture, and by the time I completed my undergrad degree, about 50 per cent of first-year students were women by my estimate. Even at that time, there was a shift happening,” says Armstrong, director of industry and regulatory affairs for Canterra Seeds and former CEO of Limagrain Cereals Research Canada.
Armstrong is serving as a mentor for the AdvancingAg Future Leaders program organized by the Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley. The program pairs young agri-professionals and producers with industry leaders to impart knowledge and facilitate key professional development opportunities.
In its inaugural year, seven out of the eight apprentices chosen to be mentored happen to be women, according to Alberta Barley Vice-Chair David Bishop. Out of the 12 people under the age of 35 who applied, 10 were women.
“Overall, we are excited to see so many young people interested in this mentorship opportunity,” Bishop says.
