On 15 October, recognised as International Day of Rural Women, the Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud attended the Graduation of the 2020 Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program.
Littleproud congratulated the 12 graduates of the Program and recognised the outstanding contributions of women in rural Australia.
“We are fortunate in the agriculture sector to be surrounded by women who provide strong leadership to the industry,” said Littleproud.
“With the support of my department, this leadership program has been connecting women with one-on-one mentoring and personal development opportunities since 2018.”
Littleproud said the result has been real progress towards doubling the number of women in leadership ranks by 2030, with 50 per cent of appointments to agricultural bodies now women, up from 38 per cent in 2017 when he took over as Agriculture Minister.
He stressed that this wasn’t about quotas, but simply about establishing an environment in which woman feel comfortable to come forward.
“The 12 graduates who have now completed the program offer a range of expertise in areas from science, research and development, farm health and safety, to education and farm business management,” said Littleproud.
“Past graduates have gone on to assume federal and state government-based board roles and to be high-profile female advocates and leaders for our sector.”
