Acknowledging women in agriculture: taskforce progress report

Charter for the Future

A key part of the remit of the Taskforce is to consider practical solutions for businesses of all sizes in enabling them to make the most of all of their resources on the farm. To help deliver this, work has been undertaken to develop a Charter for the Future to enable businesses and organisations to improve gender equality within the sector.

The Charter will be a voluntary scheme supporting businesses and organisations in the Scottish agricultural sector to make the most of their resources, including people, and improving access to opportunities for all.

In exploring the development of the Charter, a range of approaches were considered, including the Nolan Principles of Public Life, the Athena SWAN Charter scheme and Northern Ireland’s Gender Diversity Charter. All approaches acknowledge that advancing gender equality demands commitment and action at all levels of the sector, and in particular active leadership from those in senior roles. In this way the Charter will help businesses make better use of their assets, enabling them to expand and develop.

The Charter aims to create an inclusive culture that advances equality of opportunity, advancement and outcome for all, and is based on a number of key principles, including:

• Advancing gender equality within the agriculture sector
• Encouraging and promoting career development and progression for all
• Tackling the gender pay gap
• Ensuring that normal succession and inheritance practices do not act as a barrier to gender equality.

A small sample of organisations and businesses from across the farming sector will be identified to participate in a pilot project to test the practical application of the Charter.

The pilot will include a benchmark survey prior to the application of the Charter, followed by research to quantify the business benefits from attitudinal and behavioural change within the business and organisations.