Andrew Arbuckle: Deep-rooted sexism is hindering growth of gender equality

Invariably, when I mention that one of my daughters is a lawyer and the other is a doctor, the response is along the lines of “then you will be all right in your old age”.

Mischievously and incorrectly, I add that the legal one specialises in criminal law and the medical one’s forte is gynaecology – so while other old boys might worry about bits drooping or having their brain cells melt away, I could have a very interesting old age. Regardless of the specialised lines my daughters really are working in, I am pleased that they both seem to be in professions where there is gender equality.

I wish I could say the same about the agricultural industry. In practical farming, the gender imbalance is deep-rooted. A great deal of it lies in the tradition that when the farm, when passed down, does not go to the keen, the knowledgeable or even the most gifted; it goes to the first-born male.

Occasionally that mould is broken and the farm passes to a younger sibling and on a very few occasions it passes to a daughter. The fear for farming families was always that a daughter might marry and the farm would, as they saw it, move out of the family. While I know one or two farmers who are now putting their daughters on an equal footing to their male heirs, these are very much the exception and that is in my view a loss to the industry.

Even after breaking into farming, the path for the female side of the human race is far from easy. As I was standing alongside a respected Borders farmer at Kelso tup sales last week, the auctioneer was trying to encourage prospective bidders and his patter included phrases such as “come on boys, you can see this is a very good sheep” and “right guys, this is the one you have been waiting for”.

My colleague was unimpressed. She was aiming to buy a couple of tups as she has done for many years at Kelso.

I am sure the auctioneer was blissfully unaware that his comments were addressed to only one half of the population and that he meant no offence to the other 50 per cent. But for his information and others’, this institutionalised, unthinking attitude is offensive to those women working in and contributing to the livestock industry.

This is slightly surprising, because if there is any sector where the move to gender equality might have taken a small step it is in breeding pedigree animals and producing top livestock.

A quick look down the list of consigners on any pedigree sale will pick out females working as equals and often better than their male counterparts. They are respected for their expertise and their skills.

Other farming enterprises are largely female-free, with few noted lady cereal growers, potato merchants or soft fruit growers.

More recently, one area where female involvement has been a dominant factor is in farm diversification, whether this is the setting up of a farm shop, a bed and breakfast unit or adding value to some product grown on the farm. So there are arguably slight shoots of equality creeping into the forest of bias and male domination.

Looking at the organisations and businesses linked to agriculture, there are some shocking examples of inequality. Quality Meat Scotland is an enviable organisation, but not one of its board of directors comes from the distaff side. When I mentioned this to chief executive Uel Morton he pleaded not guilty, as the board is chosen by some anonymous government panel. My response is: “Send the message up the line to the faceless ones before the next set of appointments, Uel.”

I was going to have a go at NFU Scotland on its lack of females in top places, but its smooth-talking media boss, Bob Carruth, pointed out that as long ago as 1931, the union had Miss A McLaren as its chief executive, or general secretary as she was then described.

“Well, it must just about be coming around again then, Bob.” While there have been one or two women as committee chairs and a similar scarcity of ladies chairing areas of the NFU, female representation has never been high.

These are only two organisations out of many. Whether in academia, lobbying or agri-related business, there is a similar domination of males taking almost all the top slots.

The one farming based organisation that does have more idea about gender equality is the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs, so changes may be on the horizon.

In the meantime, “come on boys, let’s throw out our male-dominated, sexist attitudes of the 18th and 19h century”.