Add Category
Updated
A father of three girls on a farm in Western Australia's wheat belt has been inundated with uplifting messages about women in agriculture.
Ty Fulwood was unpacking a travel bag with his oldest daughter, three-year-old Sylvie, when she made a surprising comment.
She had playfully asked him if he would share his work clothes.
He took it as a sign she was thinking about a future working on the farm.
"Are you going to help Daddy when you get older and be a farmer?" he asked.
Her response stunned him.
"No daddy, I'm not going to be a farmer," she insisted.
"I'm a girl not a boy."
He realised that despite creating a supportive environment for his daughters, they didn't see many females working on the farm and that had created a perception in their young minds that women don't work in agriculture.
"For her at three-and-a-half to think that it wasn't an option because she was a girl just really stumped me," Mr Fulwood said.
Mr Fulwood, who runs a cropping operation growing wheat and canola in Cunderdin, 150 kilometres east of Perth, wanted to show his daughters examples of female farmers.
But because of coronavirus restrictions couldn't do it in person. So he took to Twitter.
Hundreds of people have responded with videos and photos of life on the land.
"I thought I might get a couple of responses but it was quite a large response," he said.
Some people shared videos, directed to Sylvie, explaining why they had a passion for agriculture.
Others shared images of themselves or their daughters and wives getting busy on the farm, helping with lambing, feeding livestock or working with heavy machinery.
Western Australian wool producer Emily Stretch shared a video of feeding time.
"I filled the feeder using the auger and reversed the trailer no worries," Ms Stretch said.
"Girls can do anything they put their mind to, so can guys!"
In northern Queensland, Kate Andison and her four sisters all consider themselves farmers.
"Our parents are farmers and we all work together at home on our family cattle property," Ms Andison said.
"They are very proud and happy that girls can be farmers and work in our family's business. You can do what ever you want to and remember that girls make the best farmers."
UK farmer Eleanor Durdy said farming wasn't just a man's world.
"They have a female farmer emoji, so it must be true!" said Ms Durdy, highlighting the importance of making women in agriculture more visible.
Mr Fulwood said his next challenge was to keep his young daughter's attention while showing her the many videos and stories sent her way.
He added that he would keep the Twitter thread for future use when his daughters are a bit older.
"There were so many positive responses and from what I saw there were so many responses from men and women," Mr Fulwood said.
"I think it's an issue that effects all of us and we are all trying to manage."
He said agriculture was slow to change partly because inter-generational farms don't change hands very often.
"I only came back to the farm at 30 after a life in the city and a few things hit home with me about gender roles and attitudes to change," he said.
"I find it very good to see men and women sharing and commenting and contributing to the conversation."
Topics: women-in-agriculture, farm-labour, family, rural, rural-women, cunderdin-6407, wa
First posted