Supporting women in dairy
There is room for improvement when it comes to addressing the gender pay gap in dairy and supporting women and parents, with better parental leave policies.
The number of women working in the dairy industry continues to steadily increase with more women working in onfarm roles, while women continue to rise to leadership roles off farm within the professional part of the sector.
However, there is room for improvement when it comes to addressing the gender pay gap and supporting women and parents, with better parental leave policies.
In the dairy industry, the gender pay gap sits around -37.6% for dairy farm employees and -21.2%% in dairy
processing (Dairy’s economic contribution to New
Zealand, 22 August 2023).
For dairy farming, the wage gap between male and females employees over the last two decades has moved around an average of 39%. The female share of employment has risen from 26% to 30%, reflecting some progress in bringing females into the sector.
However, the retention rate for females remains below that of males. Retaining females in the sector is key to enabling them to build up experience and seniority in the sector, helping to lower the wage gap.
This issue we look at what some of the top NZ dairying
organisations are doing to address the gender pay gap and support women when it comes to parental leave to help them return to work. We also have inspiring examples of women succeeding and making a difference and stories that give great insights into how employers can support women working onfarm, during pregnancy and in retaining their female staff.
