Fields of Action: Australian Women's Agricultural Activism in the 1990s¹

Abstract

In recent years, women's contribution to farming has been increasingly recognized by academics, decision makers, and some sectors of the farming community. In contrast, women's activism in agricultural politics is less well accepted or understood. This paper investigates data from a number of farm activist groups operating on a variety of scales in Australia. The paper examines the ways in which farm women develop political agency and then mobilize across a number of "fields of action" to effect both personal and industry-wide change.

Making visible the ‘space of betweenness’: understanding women's limited access to leadership in regional Australia

“…Despite more than 35 years of significant changes to women's participation rates in the paid workforce, they continue to be poorly represented in formal leadership positions across all industry sectors. While much of the research into women's leadership roles has focused on the corporate sector (Still, 2004) and the public sector (Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment 1998; Rindfleish and Sheridan 2003), in recent years 3 there has been a growing interest in women's experience of leadership in rural industries (Alston 1998a;Liepins 1998;Haslam McKenzie 1999;Alston 2000;Pini et al 2003;Pini 2005a). A common theme across these Australian studies is the gendered nature of organizational practices and leadership (Alston 1998a;Liepins 1998;Pini et al 2004;Sinclair 2005), reflecting similar findings internationally (Martin 1996;Wajcman 1999;Fenstermaker and West 2002;Powell and Graves 2003).…”

Timely Partnerships? Contrasting Geographies of Activism in New Zealand and Australia

“…In addition, it seeks to raise public awareness of women's agricultural and rural issues in the minds of the Australian urban majority. This was shown in the first International Women in Agriculture Conference, staged for maximum social exposure in Melbourne in 1994 (Liepins, 1998). It has also been evident in the annual Women on Farms Gatherings as past convenors have noted: "Gatherings are important for their public recognition of the contributions made by farming women" (Rural Women's Network, 1996).…”

“…The Heritage Project has its roots in the wider Women in Agriculture movement that has operated across Australia since the late 1980s (Fincher and Panelli, 2001;Liepins, 1998;Teather, 1996). This movement seeks acknowledgement of women's contribution to agricultural industries and rural society, and agitates to increase women's rights to participate in agri-political arenas of power (Liepins, 1999;Panelli and Pini, 2005).…”

“…It has also been evident in the annual Women on Farms Gatherings as past convenors have noted: "Gatherings are important for their public recognition of the contributions made by farming women" (Rural Women's Network, 1996). Similarly, the (urban and rural focused) public awareness agenda has been promoted via various groups and organisations generating newsletters, media campaigns, ICT resources and web-based publicity (Liepins, 1998;. A further example of this engagement with wider-than-agricultural audiences is seen in the WOFG Heritage Project.…”

“…A focus on contemporary history making challenges past chrono-chora assumptions of homogeneous, linear, monolithic or uniform units of time and space (Crang, 2005). Previous analyses of the women in agriculture movement have emphasised a past (where farm women's contributions were marginalised) and a present (where activists were lobbying for change) (see Liepins, 1998;Teather, 1996), but recent research has begun to raise questions of time and space across the movement and the WOFG Heritage Project Panelli and Pini, 2005;Panelli, 2007). These complement the wider debates surrounding museuology and the purpose and management of public history (Bradburne, 2001;Witcomb, 2003) established on a linear, chronological conception of time.…”