Cattle farmer, Dr Liesel Foster says she hasn’t really experienced gender discrimination in agriculture. “I suppose it’s because I’ve grown up in the industry and am a fourth generation farmer. My older male peers pretty much treat me as an equal, which is good, the younger farmers are a bit hesitant to make eye contact at event etc, but I did notice that my gender played even less of a role once I achieved my PHD,” said Liesel.
Lindie Stroebel grew up on a farm and says farming is in her blood. “When I did psychometric tests after school I was told “If only I was a boy I would be perfect for farming. I never saw myself as being different from men in any aspect. We are all equal and I think it lies in how you see yourself. If you want to be good for business as a woman you can’t be a little girl, you need to understand your topic and speak, not as a woman in your environment, but as a person who understands her environment.
Liesel made the point that women farmers had more empathy with animals because of their nurturing nature. While Lindie added that women should be included in the agri value chain because at the end of the day it was women who bought the products.
Gloria Serobe, CEO of Wipcapital and founder of Wiphold, SA’s first BEE company to establish a permanent, broad-based shareholding in 1997, said Wiphold has ventured into agriculture with 2000 hectares of crop farming.
“We decided to do something that the sector doesn’t do, there is rural land where people do not have security of tenure, we decided to focus on that area and have demystified the issues of not having title deeds. The land is arable; the fact that people don’t have titles doesn’t mean we have to wait for government.”
On the issues of gender discrimination Gloria said parents should raise their little boys and girls in a way that empowers them from a young age. To view the full episode and enjoy this riveting discussion go to www.nationinconversation.co.za and download the Nation in Conversation App for the detailed broadcast schedule.
The series celebrates its fourth year being broadcast from Nampo and has seen the conversation on the importance of agriculture being widely spread via various mainstream media outlets such as KykNet, 702/Cape Talk, Soweto TV, Business Day TV and many others. The series is also available via YouTube. Download the Nation in Conversation App at www.nationinconversation.co.za to join the conversation and to access the full broadcast channel where you can watch this entire episode.
Ends.
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Marlon Abrahams
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