Survey seeks to understand wellbeing needs of women in farming
- Claire Inkson
- Jun 19
- 5 min read
Women working and living on farms across Aotearoa New Zealand are being urged to take part in a national survey researchers hope will help fill a long-standing gap in rural wellbeing data.
The Health and Wellbeing of Women in Farming survey is being run by researchers from Massey and Lincoln Universities and is open to women who work and/or live on-farm.
Massey University’s Nicky Stanley-Clarke says while rural mental health has become a much more visible issue in recent years, the experiences of women in farming households, businesses and communities are still not well understood.
“Historically, farming has been very gender based,” she says.
“The farmer is often seen as the man, and a lot of the attention around rural mental health has quite rightly focused on men because the suicide statistics are terrible.
“But we don’t know a lot about what is going on for women.”
Stanley-Clarke’s interest in farming household wellbeing began in 2016 during the dairy farming crisis, when concerns were growing around farmer mental health.
At the time, she wanted to understand not only how farmers themselves were being affected, but how that pressure was impacting everyone else in the farming household.
More recently, she and Lincoln University’s Jorie Knook and Dan Smith have been researching the mental health and wellbeing of agricultural students, many of whom will go on to work in the rural sector.
Their work has highlighted the need to better understand women’s experiences across farming life.
Stanley-Clarke says those experiences can be very different.
Part of that comes from traditional gender roles and the language of farming. Part of it comes from the way women are positioned within farming families, businesses and rural communities.
Overseas researchers have referred to this as the “triple burden” carried by many farming women.
That can include responsibilities on-farm, caring for family and home, and, for many women, off-farm work as well.
On top of that, women are often deeply involved in community roles.
“They have all these different roles and demands,” Stanley-Clarke says.
“And often, women come last on their own list.”
She says while women are frequently told to “take time out” or “look after themselves”, that advice can feel unrealistic when they are already stretched across farm, family, work and community responsibilities.
“They already know that,” she says.
“The question is, how can they practically do that when they are carrying so much?”
The survey is designed to capture the experiences of a broad range of women connected to farming.
That includes women who are the farmer, women helping on-farm, women doing the books, women living on farms, women whose partner works on-farm, and women who may not describe themselves as farmers but are still part of farming life.
“If you have some association with a farm and farming, we want to know about your experience,” Stanley-Clarke says.
“We want to know what you like about it, what is challenging about that experience, and what you would like in response.”
A key aim of the research is to create baseline data.
Stanley-Clarke says there are organisations doing valuable work to support rural women, including Rural Women New Zealand and Dairy Women’s Network.
But when organisations apply for funding, develop services or advocate for better support, they are often asked to provide evidence.
“They’re asking to see data,” Stanley-Clarke says.
“So we want to say, here’s your data.
“We want this information to support industry and other organisations, so they can say, ‘We know from this study that women have a need in this area.’”
She says the survey is intended to be practical, not research that sits on a shelf.
“We like to do research that matters,” she says.
“We want to share it back with women in farming, essentially.”
The need for data is also a barrier for researchers themselves.
Stanley-Clarke says funding in the tertiary sector has become harder to access, particularly in areas where there is not already baseline data showing need.
“It’s chicken and egg,” she says.
“You need the data to get the funding, but you often need funding to do the research properly.”
The survey is currently being done without specific funding, with researchers hoping it will help build the evidence needed for further work.
The response so far has been encouraging.
Stanley-Clarke says the team has been overwhelmed by the support from rural organisations and farming women around the country, with hundreds already engaging with the survey.
“That response tells us there is a need,” she says.
The New Zealand survey is adapted from a women in farming study carried out in the United Kingdom last year, which attracted around 2000 responses.
The Massey and Lincoln team have adapted it for the New Zealand context.
Stanley-Clarke says the survey is just the beginning.
The researchers hope it will help identify where more work is needed, while also recognising the strengths and resilience that already exist in rural communities.
She says women’s experiences in farming are still shaped by gender.
Research with agricultural students has shown male and female students can have different experiences from the beginning of their farming careers, including during work placements.
Women can still be dismissed on-farm because they are not seen as “the boss”, even when they are the primary farmer.
“That still happens,” Stanley-Clarke says.
It can be particularly difficult for women who are isolated, who have moved to a farm because of their partner’s work, or who are away from their usual support networks.
For dairy families, moving day can mean shifting into a new house, children changing schools, and the whole family adjusting to a new community, all on top of the demands of the farming business.
Stanley-Clarke says those experiences need to be better understood.
“We know rural mental health has often been male-focused, and there are reasons for that,” she says.
“But women occupy different spaces in farming households, businesses and communities.
“If we can amplify women’s voices and get their experiences heard, we can support women better in those roles.”
The anonymous survey takes about 15 minutes to complete.
It includes questions related to wellbeing and mental health, which may be distressing for some participants. Participants do not have to answer every question and can stop the survey at any time.
The survey has ethical approval from Lincoln University and Massey University Human Ethics Committee.
Participants can also enter the draw to win one of four $100 Swanndri vouchers.
The survey closes on 15 July.
“We would love as many women as possible to take part, to have a say, and to know that their experiences are valued,” Stanley-Clarke says.
Survey details
Who can take part: Women working and/or living on-farm in Aotearoa New Zealand
Time: About 15 minutes
Privacy: Anonymous
Closing date: 15 July
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