By Stephanie Lawson
This survey reaches out to women across the UK’s farming and grower communities to take part in a short 10-15 minute survey about the role of women in sustainable agriculture. Whether you run a farm, work the land, manage the books, or are a part of food cultivation, your perspectives are vital. This survey, being carried out by Stephanie Lawson, an Anglia Ruskin University MSc Sustainability student, aims to better understand women’s unique contributions to sustainability and to shed light on her skill sets, needed to build a future-proof and resilient farming industry.
This research project explores a research gap comprised of women’s contributions to sustainable agriculture, by engaging with UK women working in farming and agriculture, inspired by thinking from the field of feminist political ecology.
There is relatively little academic research on the sector in the UK, compared to Europe, where projects such as Grass Ceiling EU and FLIARA are shedding light on the role of women in sustainable agriculture and others highlight the potential of women in agricultural green development and in global agroecology. Other UK research has delved into the topic of the economic contributions of women in agriculture and the evolving roles of farm women.
Women in UK Agriculture
Women have always played an essential role in farming and food cultivation in a UK context. Both in reality and the popular imagination they have existed, more often behind the scenes, as farmer’s wives and daughters, rather than the ones pictured standing next to the big tractor or making the decisions. Matriarchs such as Jill Archer from BBC’s ‘The Archers’ or Amanda Owen of ‘Our Yorkshire Farm’ depict the contributions of farm women. The latest inclusion of Harriet Cowan (below) on Clarkson’s Farm hints at a growing interest in the roles of women within the UK agricultural landscape.
According to DEFRA, on 1st June 2022, 16% of principal farmers & holders were female. Exact numbers of women working on farms is not stated but it is understood that over half the UK farm workforce includes farmers, partners, directors and spouses. No data is available for the gender/sex of UK farm holdings, though women typically own and work smaller holdings in Europe. Women are shown in some cases to be more highly represented in community-supported agriculture and in many cases within sustainable agriculture such as organics and market gardening. In the UK, pioneers in sustainable agriculture and horticulture have often been women, such as Helen Browning and Maddy Harland of Permaculture magazine.
Women & sustainability
In terms of behaviour, women have been shown to show higher concern and awareness towards environmental issues, linked to the fact that they at greater risk globally of being affected by them. Women are more likely to be attracted to practices that are sustainable but are less aware of green skills & where to learn or find them. Case studies show that, in many cases, due to gender roles such raising children or care work, women can often be more aware of and sympathetic to a wider variety of societal problems and practical needs and contribute better to designing equitable solutions for communities. For all the above reasons, investigating the potential of women to contribute better to solving sustainability’s ‘wicked problems’ via the pillars of the environment, social dynamics and economics should be of high priority.
Domestic agri-food landscape
The UK agri-food sector is both affected by and causing a wide range of systemic crises. Agriculture is one of the highest contributing industries to greenhouse gases as well as causing pollution, reducing biodiversity and perpetuating higher use of fossil fuels through synthetic fertilisers, as used in intensive farming. Currently 40% of UK food is imported and as such, trade dynamics also have huge knock-on effects, witnessed and felt locally in other countries. Risks such as changes in weather patterns, alongside reduced soil health, further threaten UK food productivity. These changes are felt by farmers and land workers in combination with the social effects of land ownership changes and uncertain governance – seen via the recent inheritance tax change and loss of reliable farm payments. The need to subsidise farmers due to the unrealistic and unsustainable cost of food is also questionable.
Additionally, in the UK, 57% of the daily energy intake for adults is made up of ultra-high processed food. This failing of public health underpins an increasingly severe and expensive healthcare crisis. Finally, two thirds of Britain is allegedly owned by just 0.36% of the population. Through increased land privatisation and through the oncoming financialisation of nature, corporate land grabs over time and the degradation of land and biodiversity seen in recent history could suggest new land stewardship paradigms in order to create land futures that are remotely socially sustainable.
Future – diverse, inclusive, sovereign
Though women’s presence has been normalised to a great degree and women have risen to fill positions at almost all levels across farming and agricultural industries, women and other marginalised voices (such as BPOC – black/people of colour) are still not part of decision-making at the highest levels. The future of our lands and rural economies are still decided in rooms where women are not. Making significant change to UK food systems and hierarchies requires change in governance, power structures and a significant change in the conversations held, to be found through diversity and inclusion.
Majority women-led organisations, such as LION (Land in our names), amongst many others, work towards addressing imbalances at grassroots levels. At the basis of food sovereignty lies representation and shared interest. Women and marginalised people need access to land, markets and resources. Just as the United Nations promotes the resourcing of women in the global south to improve overall nutrition and health outcomes for families and communities, further research in this area can show that platforming women’s voices can change the cultures we live in, the food we eat and how it is farmed in the UK but also across the supply chain that serves it.
Get involved – Share your views. Contributing can help to amplify women’s voices in UK agriculture and strengthen farming communities to move towards truly sustainable farming, together.
FOR MORE DETAILS: Stephanie Lawson SL1203@STUDENT.ARU.AC.UK
Stephanie Lawson is an Anglia Ruskin University MSc Sustainability student carrying out field research on UK women farmers and growers, inspired by thinking from feminist political ecology and ecofeminism. She witnessed the scale and effects of globalisation and problematic cultures of consumerism in Greater China, where she lived and worked in fashion design, entrepreneurship and teaching for 13 years. This experience led to her to start a career transition and return to the UK to study. Now she is pursuing her interest in rural politics, food sovereignty and hopes in the future to work on establishing more fair and equitable agricultural futures for all. She met her partner whilst WWOOFing in Cumbria, has recently started growing her own herbs and salads at home in West Yorkshire, after also recently growing a baby!
