Born and raised on a Queensland cattle property, Josie Angus never had a doubt about her future on the land nor whether, as a woman, she could do it.
"My father had two girls first, followed by two boys and he was hungry for staff," she said.
"So, the girls had to step up first."
Now the co-owner of her own beef enterprise, Signature Beef, Ms Angus says well over half of her employees are also women.
"[We're] pushing close to 60 per cent females and that's spread across [the business] all the way from production through to leadership."
But her business is the exception rather than the rule across the industry, with a new report showing that only one-third of workers in the global meat industry are women.
The 2023 Meat Business Women's Gender Representation report found 33.5 per cent of employees were female, down from 36 per cent in 2020.
So, what's the problem?
Ms Angus thinks the lack of women in the industry is the result of a broader problem.
"I think the industry hasn't sold itself well as a destination of employment," she said.
It's an issue that's been recognised at the national level, with the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC) rolling out a campaign to attract more workers to the industry.
Industry and government relations director Veneta Chapple said the "more to meat than meets the eye" campaign hoped to raise awareness of the opportunities, with a key focus on attracting more women.
"Women are a really important part of our workforce; it's really important to have diversity in our processing plants," Ms Chapple said.
It will particularly focus on opportunities for working mothers, through measures such as flexible working arrangements.
"Having some flexibility in the way meat processing employs people means that it actually opens up opportunities for a much broader range of people to work in our industry."
Attracting a more diverse workforce
Ms Angus said the presence of female leaders in a workplace played a big role in attracting women to traditionally male-dominated industries.
"I think it is seeing other women in leadership roles within the organisation," she said.
"Our organisation has an incredibly young leadership team, a leadership team with an average age of 23, so that attracts a lot of young people."
Dalene Wray is the managing director of OBE Organic, an organic beef company based in western Queensland and the only Australian business profiled in the 2023 gender representation report.
She said gender should not be the only consideration when it came to increasing diversity.
"From my point of view, I think we've got a way to go with regards to people of colour and people from diverse backgrounds."
It's an approach she has adopted in her own business through a social media collaboration with Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation, the traditional owners who hold native title over parts of south-west Queensland, including properties from which OBE Organic sources livestock.
Mithaka chairperson Tracey Hough said the collaboration aimed to raise awareness of the relationship between traditional owners and pastoralists.
"I definitely think the narrative that is in the public is that pastoralists and Indigenous groups don't get on, and I think that's something that has to be changed," she said.
Women leading the industry forward
Despite the drop in female workers, there has been an increase in the number of women stepping into leadership roles.
The report found that 32 per cent of high-level leadership roles were held by women, up from 22 per cent.
Ms Wray said she was happy with the increasing visibility of women in the industry.
"From my perspective as a female leader in agriculture in Australia, I am observing more women in leadership roles."
But she said more could be done to increase workforce diversity.
"A couple of really simple things that we can do is call out bias and exclusionary behaviours when you see them, mentor employees who do not look like you, monitor who gets airtime in meetings and invite in diverse voices.
"[Also] check yours and others' assumptions in hiring, promotion, succession and pay discussions, and show support for under-represented employees."
