As International Women’s Day (IWD) approaches this week, there have been calls to address the stark gender disparity between men and women leading New Zealand’s horticultural industry.
International Women’s Day has honoured women's achievements in all aspects of life, social, economic, cultural, and political while also advocating for gender equality.
“Although women make up nearly half of the horticulture workforce, they represent just 20 percent of leadership positions,” said Stephanie Wrathall, Project Manager for Women in Horticulture (WiH).
“As we mark International Women’s Day (IWD), we encourage everyone involved in New Zealand’s horticultural sector to question how we can encourage more females to pursue high-value leadership roles in horticulture.”
This year’s IWD theme, Accelerate Action, emphasised the urgency of removing systemic barriers and biases that hinder women’s progress.
“The time has come to ditch unconscious bias and stereotypes and get more rural women into top leadership positions. It’s time to emphasise the value that women can bring to the food and fibre sector and do more to support their place within it.”
New research released by the Food and Fibre Centre of Vocational Excellence last November estimated that 15,200 rural women across New Zealand were connected with the food and fibre sector workforce who are not working full-time.
The research project considered how future training programmes could best meet rural women’s needs and examined the barriers that currently prevent women from becoming more involved.
“Many women need to work around school hours or cannot study during busy times of the year such as annual harvests. Living in a rural or isolated community creates other problems around transport and costs. As an industry, we need to do things differently so we can Accelerate Action and achieve gender equality in this country.”
WiH believes that flexibility is crucial for both training and employment opportunities to help women manage multiple roles and family commitments while pursuing a horticultural career.
“Women can enhance the success of our nurseries, orchards, greenhouses, fresh produce farms, export businesses and industry organisations. However, we must make room for them in the workplace and be prepared to change how we train and operate our businesses. We need to encourage women to put themselves forward; many underestimate the value of their skills from working part-time or general life experience.”
Horticulture has played a vital role in New Zealand’s economy, with a farm gate value of NZD 4.19 billion. The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report showed that a significant gender pay gap still existed in New Zealand.
Pacific and Māori women faced the most significant pay gap, earning about 20 percent less than European men per hour. European women earn about five percent less than their male counterparts.
WiH’s goal has been for New Zealand to become a world leader for gender equity in this sector while boosting productivity through inclusivity. It has been led by United Fresh, who took the reins in 2023.
Discover the stories of women in business here
