Women speak up for farming

By Melissa Moxon

While some women's groups have been protesting against Apec, top farmer and businesswoman Mavis Mullins believes there has never been a better time for rural women to be heard.

Mrs Mullins was a speaker at a the Apec-related Indigenous Women in Exporting meeting in Wellington.

Co-owner of the award-winning Dannevirke company Paewai Mullins Shearing, she was also a main speaker at last week's Women's Division of Federated Farmers (now Rural Women) conference.

Mrs Mullins said rural women mistrusted meetings like Apec, and wondered what they could achieve for them.

"The reality is that unless you're in there, making steps towards some type of protection to our primary product, you can't win," she said.

Mrs Mullins said the playing field was not level, and women and farmers needed to fight against further disadvantages such as the proposed American tariff on lamb imports from New Zealand.

"The time has never been so opportune for women leaders and women business people, because the Prime Minister and [Women's Affairs Minister] Georgina te Heuheu are big advocates for rural women," said Mrs Mullins.

She said issues facing rural women included the importance of gaining extra skills because of the need to find employment in addition to running a farm.

"One of the key issues was that rural women need easy access to life-long learning opportunities."

Another thing that came out of the Apec-related meeting strongly was the need for easy access to technology.

"That was certainly emphasised by Australian panellists in regard to outback communities and communication by e-mail and the Internet," said Mrs Mullins

Recommendations from the women's conference will go to the main Apec conference, in Auckland in September.