Comments regarding the role of women in the cattle industry have prompted calls for a renewed focus on gender diversity in Australia's corporate agriculture sector.
The comments, made by the chair of grass-fed-beef representative body Cattle Australia David Foote in a recent podcast interview, were received by some on social media with anger and disappointment.
Mr Foote told interviewer Jayne Cuddihy that "women are a huge part of our industry, they're there in (sic) every kitchen table in a partnership".
Ms Cuddihy responded "well, even more than the kitchen table there, I think".
"That's right," Mr Foote said.
"They're equals … they do the bankers (sic), they do the books … plus manage the house."
The comments were made during a discussion about the Cattle Australia board.
Mr Foote said Cattle Australia would ideally look to add another woman to its board of directors, which comprised of six men and one woman.
"I would really hope that we actually have room to increase that number [of women] … that there are ladies out there who feel comfortable enough to want to get on board and nominate," Mr Foote said.
The ABC spoke to Mr Foote and provided him with detailed questions, but he declined to participate in an interview or make a comment.
'Profoundly disappointed'
Gillian Fennell, who lives and works on a remote cattle station in Central Australia, said Mr Foote's comments were tough to hear.
"I was pretty disappointed to be honest," Ms Fennell said.
"We've come so far as an industry when it comes to representation and equality, and to hear the leader of a new organisation [like Cattle Australia] make such dismissive comments about women and their place and their contribution, I was profoundly disappointed."
That sentiment was echoed by Lyn French, who runs Gilberton pastoral company in Northern Australia.
"I think it's very out of touch," Ms French said.
She said she was shocked that the chair of Cattle Australia would hope women would be "comfortable enough" to step up into a board position.
"Some men, I think, can't handle that women are a major business voice to our industry, some men have discomfort in accepting that women are leaders in our industry," she said.
Need for diversity
Cattle Australia was formed in October 2022 after a restructure steering committee, funded by the federal government, was set up to address long-running concerns about democracy and representation for the grass-fed cattle industry.
While some agricultural boards and councils have achieved gender equality, Cattle Australia's male-dominated board of directors is not an anomaly.
Of the 12 agricultural product listed companies on the ASX, only 25 per cent of board members are women.
Charles Sturt University professor of agriculture Jim Pratley said Cattle Australia's failure to achieve a diverse board of directors was a "critical issue".
"That really is not acceptable in this day and age," Professor Pratley said.
"There are various ways of doing things and the more input we have from a different range of people, the better decisions we'll make going forward."
Professor Pratley said Mr Foote's comments about women were uncomfortable and unnecessary, especially considering the women he saw moving through agricultural degrees at university.
"We know that in agriculture, in the likes of veterinary and animal science courses, there is a big majority of females, and the cattle industry depends on a lot of those graduates," he said.
"We've got to get over this issue of patronising women, we've got to accept that they're the strength of our sector, and they're doing a magic job."
Barriers to women
Ms Fennell, who served on the board of the Cattle Council of Australia before it transitioned into the new format Cattle Australia, said barriers still existed for women in corporate agriculture.
"It's a big thing to overcome years and years of ingrained, unconscious sexism," she said.
"And it's a fact that we're still responsible for most of the childcare and those sorts of things that somehow manage to exclude us from participating at the national levels."
Despite the barriers, Ms Fennell said women should be encouraged to step into high level positions in agriculture.
"To anyone who might be interested in serving on a board, you can put your hand up and you've got the support of the member base," she said.
"Don't be afraid, don't be put off, we're here to support you."
Ms French agreed.
"I think our females within the industry are becoming more resilient to those kind of comments [from the likes of David Foote]," she said.
"Women just hear them and say 'yeah, well catch me if you can mate'."
