Bees live in a matriarchal system yet commercial beekeeping is still dominated by men.
One of the few female commercial beekeepers is West Australian Shelley Bowden.
Ms Bowden has been beekeeping for 10 years on the state's south coast and wants to sell her business to another woman and introduce them to the wonderful world of honey bees.
Her hives are based in Boxwood Hill and Bremer Bay, over 100 kilometres east of Albany.
"I'd really like to find another female passionate about starting their own business and being a bit of a trailblazer," Ms Bowden said.
She intends to be very involved in the changeover of business and share all she knows with the new owner.
"I think females are very under-represented in the industry, so it would be good to see more females come on and pass their knowledge along," Ms Bowden said.
She says people are surprised to see her as a woman in the industry, and that she has received a lot of attention.
"I'm known as the Honey Lady. People call me Honey, all sorts of things like that," Ms Bowden said.
"It's a very inventive job, and I think females are pretty good at inventing and also at multitasking."
From the backyard to 200 hives
What started as a self-sufficient venture into growing her own fruits and vegetables, Ms Bowden bought a couple of hives for pollination.
Now, she has over 200 hives, dubbing herself "the accidental beekeeper".
"There is so much to learn," Ms Bowden said.
"It's not just knowledge about the bees, but about the flowers in the area and the seasons and what spots work best.
"That's why I'd like to pass it on to somebody else, because you spend all that time accumulating the knowledge."
Beekeeping is a lot of hard work and Ms Bowden's business has thrived on persistence and learning.
"I'd be perfect if I could get an Indigenous lady that would like to take it over, I've got some really good land that I access that they would be able to utilise as well," she said.
"The big secret to beekeeping is to have the right land.
"[I] just hope that whoever buys it has the same passion and follows it."
Opportunity for more women
Julie Dinsdale is an independent director for the Bee Industry Council of Western Australia (BICWA).
She is a beekeeper herself and has only come across 5 to 10 other females in the commercial industry.
"Beekeeping commercially is a lot of long drives and going out to the bush, driving the trucks and things, so I think it hasn't attracted a lot of women in the industry," Ms Dinsdale said.
Women have typically been on the administration side of the beekeeping business, but with technological advances, Ms Dinsdale wants this to change.
"[With] cranes and technologies that are getting cheaper [and] support from government to help us get into the industry where we can do it safely, [I] think you'll see more and more women get involved," she said.
