October 17, 2023 • 35 mins
Bridgit Hawkins has an incredible resume behind her. Currently, Bridgit is the Chief Sustainability Officer at CropXTechnologies LTD and Chair for various organisations like Bovonic, Agritech and Cropsy Technologies.
Growing up on a farm has led Bridigit into the agriculture industry and she is extremely passionate about making a difference in our sector. Bridgit is also the founder of ‘Fields of Change’, which advocates for a strong, diverse, and sustainable primary sector. Its goal is to encourage conversation about women leaders in agriculture, and to find out why the sector is missing a generation of women business leaders.
Bridgit speaks to us about the power of the collective, how to elevate female leaders, and where she sees the future of this sector heading.
Thank you so much to Bridgit for taking the time out of her busy schedule to chat to us!
You can read more about Fields of Change here: https://fieldsofchange.org.nz/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to season six of The Black Hills and tractoriis podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Brought to you by us in Real Women.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (00:08):
This season on the podcast, we are interviewing the ogs,
the badass ladies of the agricultural world, the ones who,
in my case, you might see at a conference get
all nervous and flustered. You might embarrass yourself in front
of them, because that's that amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The theme of this season is the big stuff, the
juicy topics, like how they got into leadership positions, what
it means to be a CEO, how you add value
around a board table, and has the agricultural industry actually
changed does it even like females? All these things and
more this season, and these ladies do not hold back.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
So I guess the best place to start is at
the beginning of your journey, obviously, and so I'm interested,
bridget in what we need to know about you for
who you are now and how how it shaped.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You are you.
Speaker 6 (01:00):
So I think, you know, particularly with that theme of
you know, women who built careers very purposely, I.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Think there's a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
As I've always been a very independent person, so when
I grew up on a farm, a shetn Bee farm
near Rappaeroa and back. I just I loved farming, but
I also wanted to be able to do everything, so
I wasn't going to be defined by being a girl.
And when I was in my early twenties, there was
(01:32):
a promotion called women can do anything in agriculture, and
you know, that really resonated with me because I believe
that absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So it helped that I love farming.
Speaker 6 (01:45):
And my dad was very in some ways not always
quite like open mind, and he believed in education. He
believed in being able to develop skills and do things well.
So I learned how to do everything on the farm
and I loved doing it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So you know, like most.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Farm kids, you learn to drive quite early, and you
know Dad's it's really important to know how to back
a trailer, and actually it is, and you know, fencing
and sharing and a whole lot of animal house stuff,
and so that from that early age, knowing that actually,
if you set your mind to learn something, you actually
(02:23):
can and being female is not a barrier to doing
physical work as well, because it's about technique. Doing anything well,
it's about your technique. It's not about your size or
your absolute strength, and so that I guess that belief
has kept with me as I've built my career that
(02:46):
actually I can do anything I put my mind to,
and it's about learning how to do it right and saying,
oh that's too hard or I'm not as such and such.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You know that actually, if you want to, you can.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
It's such an important point that you mentioned around technique
and getting the right technique and doing it correctly can
overcome perhaps some of those more physical challenges or other
barriers that might be their real or perceived. And so Bridget,
can you just take us through a little bit of
the snapshot of your career so far?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
An amazing foundation.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
That sounds like you've had growing up in rural life,
and how did that play out in terms of your career.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Riper College is pretty small school, but I went to university,
and again that was my parents. It was very much
an expectation and something that they saw as a way
to move ahead. It wasn't you know still university back
then was a little bit more elitist than it is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now, so it was a thing to do.
Speaker 6 (03:47):
And so I went down to Massi University and my
initial goal was to become a VET, but I didn't. Again,
one of the barriers big in a small school is
you're like you're a big fish in a tiny pond.
And I wasn't perhaps quite as smarter as I thought
I was. When you've got hundreds of students going for
like forty places at VET school, I wasn't so good
(04:09):
at wrote learning perhaps as I needed to be.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
So I didn't get into VET school.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
In all honesty, I don't regret that because I'm very
happy with the way my careers panned out. So I
switched to do agricultural science, which was enter this day
is an awesome degree because you do a lot of
actual science, which I think is a very important foundation
for anything in.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
The primary industries.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
And then you do management and you do agronomy and
animal health and so you get just this enormous breadth
of knowledge and a way of thinking. So that was
and then I stayed on at MASSI and did become
a junior lecturer, and I did my masters at that
(04:58):
time is in a more social research area, which again,
you know, when I look back, I learned so much
then that's brought into the work that I do today
around you know, products.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And like adoption why people do things.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
You know that that foundation for understanding that came, you know,
from when I did my masters and then it was
it was actually quite hard to work in the primary sector.
That was back when people were saying it's the sunset industry.
So there's shades of that now with people saying, oh,
how is it going to be that you know gone
and what have you? And I think, well, I've been
here before. I know that didn't happen, So we I worked.
(05:41):
So I decided to try different things and I ended
up with a job in Palmerston North with an organization
called the man Or two Commerce Center and so they
like the Chamber of Commerce, so you know that member organization.
That again that's sort of learning how do you how
do you work out what's important to other people? So
that's the businesses that are members. How how do you
(06:04):
start to deliver things that make them want to pay
their their subscriptions and build that. So again that was
something a bit different but really really useful. Then my
husband and I went overseas and we were away for
about five years, you know, the traditional ki we oe
(06:24):
and again at that time in the UK, there's not
many jobs ideally set up in London for someone with
an egg science degree. So I didn't do anything you
know that related back to the primary sector.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But we had an awesome time.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
You know, it's a great time in your life, no
commitments and yeah, just making quite a lot of money
and traveling and stuff. So and then we came back
here to New Zealand and we decided that we would
where we would go would be wherever, which every one
of us got a job first, and that's why we
ended up in Wellington, which we live today till today.
(07:03):
So from there, the first job I got in Wellington
was with what's called what now is in DTE So
it was Trade New Zealand back then, and that was
working and they had some sector bases, so that was
working in the meat and seafood sector. And so one
of the things when we came back to New Zealand is,
you know, I actively decided I wanted to get back
(07:25):
into the primary sector. You know, I wasn't interested in
building a career that was completely unrelated to that because
I knew that that was That's part of what you know,
brought us back to New Zealand. Something that I felt
really passionately about. And I think, you know, one of
your questions was, you know, around what advice would I
(07:45):
give to people starting out on that career journey. And
I think, not worrying so much about what am I
going to do or what job do I want to have,
but actually where where do I want to be and work?
Like what really lights your fire? And I think that
if you follow that and seek out things that are
(08:07):
in an area industry that you feel really passionate about,
you're going to get really great jobs and those opportunities
will open up for you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
So I worked for MCTE for a number of years
in the meat and seafood sector, so that was again
really interesting, you know, being exposed to companies that were
at the start of transitioning. You know, New Zealand really
was starting to say how do we move from commodity
products into value add and you know some businesses, so
there was Richmond's Meat Plant. They were starting to look
(08:39):
at you know what actually was a brand as opposed
to just you boxes of frozen meat and stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
So that you know that again interesting.
Speaker 6 (08:49):
I got to travel overseas on a few delegations and stuff,
which was really great and that's I suppose to when
that again recognizing male dominated the primary sector, you know
is and I suppose reflection is back there, and then
we're talking, you know, the best part of thirty years ago,
(09:11):
lots of guys everywhere in the sector. Today it's still
very much the same this although it's not quite as
male dominated. There still are predominantly men, particularly in the
senior leadership roles in our biggest businesses. Yeah, so, which
is a little bit disappointing.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I'd have to say.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I'm just I'm really interested in this idea of bringing
more women into the sector. So it feels like there
are some spaces that are very male dominated still, But
then there are organizations and groups that are popping up
to support more women. And I understand that you might
have been part of it a few years ago and
(09:50):
bringing together a little bit of a movement in that
space a little bit, but I did.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I've sort of launched something called Fields of Change. So
it does frustrate me enormously that we've got a lot
of challenges in the sector in front of us, but
a lot of the decision making and the control of
capital and the rate of progress is done by a
(10:21):
reasonably small group of the same people who mainly are men,
mainly a pakiher and mainly old. So I'm not saying
everyone's like that, And just because you're those things doesn't
mean that you were not forward thinking. However, you know,
there's there's a group think all of those people have
(10:44):
had the same experiences, They have the same perspective and
to do to actually get the type of change and
the rate of change that our sector needs to address,
the way consumers are viewing food and what they're wanting,
the the climate change, and then that relationship of the
tension between food production systems and the environment. We absolutely
(11:09):
have to do things differently, and we have to be
prepared to change how we do things much much faster
than we ever have before, and we'll get left behind
as a country. And so part of the reason I
think that gap between where we need to be and
where we are is just widening is because you know,
the status quo has so much invested in keeping it
(11:32):
the same, and some of it too, is they don't
quite know what the answer is, so they don't want
to be talking about that so much, you know, And
I think we're just where And then when I really
looked at it, and I thought, there's more women in
the sector, there's no doubt about that. But you look
at two things. So women in larger organizations in our
(11:53):
sector are not they might be in senior leadership teams,
but they'll be marketing the environment. Hr they're not the
chief operating officer. They're not the CEOs, and they're not
the finance managers. They're not they're not the roles that
actually genuinely have the power in organizations. And then there's
a lot coming in to businesses now, lots of lots
(12:16):
of young women coming out of university entering these larger organizations,
entering the sector, and then they just disappear they're not,
you know, and so there's a real disconnected you know,
you need to build a bench of people with the
experience to be able to be a CEO. You can't
(12:37):
be a CEO of a big organization if you haven't
done some operational things. So they actively need to have
programs to bring people up to get that experience, so
they can't turn around. So well, look, it's not that
we don't want a woman CEO, but we just don't
have anyone apply who's got the experience. Well, it's not
going to happen magically, we're stuck in this, we're not
(12:59):
progressing really thinking about what does it take to change.
And if you look in the government sector where they
mandated that they must have certain proportion of women CEOs
end of story. So then all of those agencies have
got how are we going to be able to get
people with the right qualifications to be able to make
them CEOs?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
And it's happened, isn't it. So yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Love this because you're speaking to my soul here. As
a data this is what I do in my spare time.
I track the progress in an Excel sheet of women
and seeing a leadership position. So everything you said around
those positions being an HR perhaps being a marketing with sustainability,
I've seen that come through in the data. So I
(13:46):
love that you're talking about this and also the government
and the mandate coming through because it's really clear when
you drill into all the different and certain ones, in
particular the government departments, you can really see how clearly
they have focused on trying to progress women. And so
if I unpack some of your answers, are you suggesting
(14:07):
that what the agricultural industries need to do is effectively
look to promote females by design in terms of a mandate.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Yes, and you know it's not the government can't tell
private business how to run their business clearly, so they
can tell them like the gender or the pay equity
of reporting that can only be requirements of publicly listed companies,
(14:40):
can't even be across all companies. So it's however, first
of all, I think we, you know, as women, how
do we build momentum and gather together all this, all
the different initiatives and people and supporters of this to
actually keep pushing and making it an expectation and the
(15:06):
because if we don't, you know, we'll we'll miss the boat.
You know, it's it's the end of story where we're
The opportunity cost of not having a gender diverse women,
you know, people in positions of authority and influence is enormous,
the opportunity costs for our country. And it's it's not
(15:27):
like it's special to the primary sector, but the primary
sector is our biggest sector in New Zealand, so that's
why it's even more important for us. And I think too,
it's also just how we call out that difference between saying.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh, we agree, we agree that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Women should have equal opportunity and stuff to say, well, actually,
it's not just just getting to be having your hr
person as a woman, or that is not actually it,
that's not what it's about to actually run these businesses
and really having it's a it's an equity in an
equality in influence, in power, not in seats around a table,
(16:12):
which is there's a subtle difference there. And the other
thing I've heard, I mean it is it is absolutely
starting to happen, but just not purposefully enough. Is I've
heard people complain that their male son gets passed over
or they feel they feel gilted because a woman got
(16:35):
an opportunity to do something it is because they were
a woman, and they don't see that sphere. And I'm thinking, well,
you know, you've only had the last two hundred years,
you've had the lion's share. But so I'm sorry, I
don't you know, crime or river.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I'm not interested, bridget speaking of building these skills and
actually getting women into these positions to run these businesses
in the primary sector and ensure that they're continuing to
add value and innovate. What kind of characteristics in practical
applications should we actually be building in our young and
(17:14):
not even not so young women to be able to
get them into these positions.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
One of it definitely is confidence and belief you know
that that actually just because your view is different doesn't
make it less valuable. It actually, reality is makes it
more valuable because it's different. And being having the confidence
(17:38):
to speak, like actually to speak out. And then I
think the other thing too is learning how to ignore
or move past those you know, those put downs that
come when you do speak out and say something that
is different, that's not the standard approach to something, you know,
(18:01):
and there's always some guy in the meeting that will
be dismissive or try and minimize that contribution, and for
all of us that is actually a bit hurtful. And
then when you see it happen around you, you think, oh,
I don't want necessarily to have my thoughts put down,
particularly if you're not one hundred percent confident in that yourself.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
So I think that.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
That whole because invariably, when you get that conversation going,
there is others that was like, oh, yeah, that's a
really good point, you know, and just and and again
it's so much easier that when there are more women
in the room, and so again having people like understanding
(18:44):
that is a woman building your career and if you
want to have the skills to really succeed, you have
to be ready to be a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
You have to be ready to be the only one.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
I went a couple of weeks ago to the Electrifier
Arterror you know event up in Auckland, which was awesome,
and I went to one of the panel sessions, which
was the women vcs speaking and there was some guy
sitting in the front row who happened to have a
small VC company, and you know at the end when
(19:16):
there's questions, he didn't make a question.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He just rambled on, wanting to say his thing, and so.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Every you know, as men tend to do because they
can't possibly sit there and be invisible or just say okay,
that was interesting. You know, I have nothing to add,
so I'm going to be quiet anyway. So he's talking
on and on and on and he does not have
a question. And this is like there's a big sign
up behind saying questions. Yeah, so all around people, all
(19:44):
the women are saying, he's just man's plaining isn't he.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
He's just like, doesn't he?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
And I thought, I can't believe he can't hear this.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He was just so.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
No one was interested in what he had to say.
And I thought, well, that's quite good because you're getting
a bit of like what it's like often for women.
But you thought it was really interesting. But the tricky thing,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That is a tricky thing to navigate.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
And I was talking about this recently with my coach
and she reminded me that leadership is just a vision
that no one else can see. But it's having that
tenacity and the confidence to stay the course while you're
executing that vision, which is the challenging part. And where
you know some people can trip over if they're not
(20:31):
they don't have that innate sense of self confidence or
the right support system perhaps around them as well.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
That's right, yeah, And I think that's where you know,
culture and organizations is so important as well, and you
need the leaders in any organization, be the male or female,
to call out that that behavior that shuts conversation down.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And so you person yourself, how have you have you
had times where you have experienced a super challenging moment.
But you mentioned how when you first came back to
New Zealand you're involved in the meat and the seafood
industry and it was very male at that point in time.
Have you had those moments, particularly for yourself and how
(21:20):
have you overcome them?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
I have, and I've had lots, I guess, you know,
back in those early days, some of it was just
you know a level of sexism that it was just
everywhere and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It was normalized.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
So I had I was doing this work when I
was at ag research in We're developing something and meat plants,
meat processing plants, and so involved doing like actually getting
on the plant and doing something, and as a woman
going into that environment and you know, you they would
stop and bang their knives like just because you're a
(21:56):
woman moving through the plant. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't
happen now, but you said, but that was just it
was the only reason they're doing it is because you're
a woman in this very male environment and they're just
wanting to see what reaction they're going to get from that.
And that's why I suppose, coming back to that, being
(22:18):
very confident in myself, think they're just being like chos.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
This is just typical men, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
You know?
Speaker 6 (22:25):
But latterly, you know, it's you know, and all that
stuff where people had the time when you're assumed to
be the assistant even though you're the CEO, when you're
the most important person in the room, but they choose
to speak to the guy who happens to be with you,
and it's exhausting.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
But I always call it.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
Out because I think if you don't, then you're condoning
it in some way. So but it is and finding
that balance again as women, you can't you can't be
too you don't. We can be if you want to
be grumpy about it, but that doesn't serve your purpose
longer term. So how do you do it in a
more lighthearted but direct way, saying don't.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Just be such a toss like did you not see
my card? It said CEO?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
That is a good response because as a people pleaser,
I think it's been engendered in me somewhere along the
line to make sure everyone feels comfortable. So in that situation,
I find it really difficult to speak up and call
out that behavior. Internally, I just tell myself that's fine.
I'll show them, and then I go up and present
(23:41):
when I think something similar, and I'm the keynote presenter.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
So that's the internal dialogue that I have.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
I'm not brave enough or comfortable enough to embrace that
moment of potential conflict.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Just to really clarify that position.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Yes, yes, and I think that you know, that's a
really good point as well, because that being a people
pleaser and being nice and being always smoothing the waters
as women right from when we're girls, that is so
just it's just everywhere, we're just like soaked in this
(24:23):
sort of way of behaving that it's really really hard
to not be like that, whilst at the same time,
like I know, fundamentally I am a nice, caring person,
and I actually don't want to go out of my
way to hurt people's feelings because why would I Why
would I be rude? And so trying to find that
(24:44):
balance between actually saying I'm a person who deserves respect
for me as a person and for my role in
whatever this is, but at the same time not being
rude and hurting someone's feelings, which in a way is
what they've done to me by being dismissive and disrespectful.
You know, that's a real I don't know. I always
(25:05):
get that right. And I think as I've got older,
I'm probably bearing to being clearer and less worried about
wrapping it up, because you know, I have genuinely just
got over it. I've got over being in a room
of men all the time. I want it different, I
really want it different.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And so.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
And again, I think the more young women can see
that and see that behavior, they see that, Actually you
don't have to just accept it and just sort of
smooth it over in your own head and move on that.
Actually you can say, maybe maybe we need to reset
some boundaries here or some guidelines, and this is who's
(25:51):
here in the room and what we're here to do.
That that over time might help change that. But it's
a really difficult it's a really difficult thing. It's the
other thing too. I suppose as I've got older, you know,
and so much time is passed from when I look
back to when I started my career, and I really
do reflect that fundamentally that balance has not shifted. I
(26:16):
find that disappointing, and that really just makes me so
I've got to push.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Harder because I don't want my daughter, who's.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
In her early twenties, I don't want her to have
to have exactly those same challenges. I really want to
move the dial a bit and make things more equitable.
And I think that that's you know, it's not just gender,
it's race as well, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
That equity and equality are.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Very different things, And a lot of men, I think,
don't get what that difference actually means. And so in
the gender perspective, you know, when you're looking at career
and career pre aggression, you know, you say, well, very
you know, young people in their thirties, they've got the
early late twenties, early thirties, they've got the equal opportunities
(27:09):
to take promotions. However, biology determines that that's when a
lot of women are having some time out to have
a child. Well, actually the men also happen to be
benefiting from that, because that's their children.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Someone needs to have them.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
And but all we're doing is saying, well, so if
we say it's got to be equal, yes they do,
but they've actually had a stage in their life when
they have other commitments which are very important. And unless
you think, how do we make it equitable for women
in that phase, we won't get people moving through.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
In the in the right you.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Know, balance and proportion, and so a whole lot of
amazing women. Then their career then just goes off in
a sidetrack because they're working part time or they're not
prepared to stay, you know, work really long hours or
do masses amounts of travel because actually someone it might
they might choose it to be them, but someone must
(28:12):
be home with children, you know, so and so it's I.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Think that's that's still is.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
We need to rethink how roles operate, particularly more senior
roles operate.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Just reflecting a little bit on some of these things
we've talked about in terms of helping more women into
leadership sessions and potentially getting promotions, et cetera. I'm interested
that are you. Do you feel, as someone who has
occupied a CEO senior position in some in your own business,
as they understand it, that you're more of a position
(28:47):
to be able to encourage women through and consider those
opportunities for them.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I think so in the sense that when you've been there,
you can talk with the voice of you know, experience
and knowledge and having traveled, like been through the challenges
really understanding what they will be and some strategies around
(29:12):
how you can can navigate that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
And also, you know, I do feel it's important to
stand up as a role model and you know, and
be visible and in the in a male context, I
wouldn't say I blow my one trumpet at all, but
you know, not to be too humble about what you
have achieved and what your capabilities are and actually be
(29:39):
prepared to step forward and demonstrate your competence and expertise
and you know, all of those things so that lots
of people can see it and think, oh okay, you know,
and so they can see themselves like on that journey
as well.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
We've talked about ideally how we could change some of
this current structures to support more females. Is what is
your hope for the future if you just look ahead
and think in the next ten years. You mentioned that
you've got beautiful daughter coming through and what ideal might
(30:15):
look like in that context, But if you look ahead
ten years, where do you hope that the industry, what
shape will the industry be in, and particularly with regards
to women, where do you think will be?
Speaker 6 (30:29):
It's where I hope and where I think you're probably
different things.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I think.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
Ten years in terms of the type of change we're
talking about wanting to affect, is not really a long time. However,
with the right impetus, a lot could happen in that time.
So I think if some of the have you been
(30:59):
three or four of the leading organizations, private sector organizations
in the primary sector, were to really dive deep into
what it would mean to transform their workplace from a
gender perspective, a lot could happen in that And I
think that within ten years we should be able to
(31:21):
see several more women CEOs of these larger organizations, and
more operational people, and a much greater balance as you
sort of move up that pyramid in terms of women
progressing through And you know, at the moment it's it's
(31:41):
at roughly ten percent or something like that. You know,
if we could get it to twenty five percent in
ten years time, that would be awesome, And I think
that would make a material difference as well. So you know,
that's what I that's what I would hope. I think
it's how likely that is is going to take a
(32:06):
push in a way that I can't quite envisage where
it's going to come from is. Yet the thing that
I that I do really struggle with thing is in
ten years time, when we think about our sector and
where it needs to be, it needs to be radically
transformed because the challenges of climate and of consumer are
(32:30):
just enormous and what we're doing today is not going
to meet those, It's not going to be delivering you know.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So yeah, that's.
Speaker 6 (32:39):
I wish, you know, I wish I could say and
I'm going to do this, I'm going to but you know,
as I say, launching the fields of change, and you know,
thinking about that, it's actually again where we need to
sort of I suppose get a coalition of champions, and
but it's hard to do that when everyone's like busy
(33:02):
working and doing like who's this is no one's actual job.
It's something that's something so many people want to achieve.
But you know, how do we how do we actually
really get that that momentum and pull together the different
different things that are happening and set some yeah, some
(33:22):
how to sort of things? How you know, how could
how could we actually do that?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I suppose that's partly why we're looking to interview
some of these more successful women in our sector. To
actually think about how we can make some change and
kind of move things forward into the position where you've
just talked about, and I think on reflecting on that
conversation today, I think it's about bringing that collective foward
(33:50):
and being able to leverage that collective knowledge, but also
the power of having more people involved. I just like
to say a big thank you for enjoying us today,
because I think we're nearly out of time, but I
feel like we could talk to you for hours. We
didn't even touch on your business achievements, just an incredible career,
(34:12):
but I think really amazing to hear some of your
really straightforward and honest opinions about where we're at in
our sector and what positive things we can do to change.
So I just want to say a huge thank you
for being an incredible leader for us and trailblazing that
(34:33):
way for people like Emma and I, but a lot
of our listeners as well, who are looking for role
models and people that they can yeah, can support them.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, no, thank you And it's great.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
I mean I could talk for hours about this. I
feel so passionately about it as well. And the other
thing too is I don't feel like I'm near the end,
you know. I think, having gown it all of this
knowledge and experience, I've got more things I want to achieve.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
But I also feel I've got.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
So much more I can give back, and so you know,
I'm really actively looking and thinking about how can I
do that, how can I keep making positive impact?
Speaker 5 (35:16):
So thank you, thank you so much, Bridget Look, we
would love to hear from you, and even more, we
would love for you to sign up as a member
of Rural Women New Zealand. So check us out on
our socials, give us a Google hit the join butt
and help us make more of a difference for rural
women across New Zealand.
Welcome to season six of The Black Hills and tractoriis podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Brought to you by us in Real Women.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (00:08):
This season on the podcast, we are interviewing the ogs,
the badass ladies of the agricultural world, the ones who,
in my case, you might see at a conference get
all nervous and flustered. You might embarrass yourself in front
of them, because that's that amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
The theme of this season is the big stuff, the
juicy topics, like how they got into leadership positions, what
it means to be a CEO, how you add value
around a board table, and has the agricultural industry actually
changed does it even like females? All these things and
more this season, and these ladies do not hold back.
Speaker 5 (00:45):
So I guess the best place to start is at
the beginning of your journey, obviously, and so I'm interested,
bridget in what we need to know about you for
who you are now and how how it shaped.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You are you.
Speaker 6 (01:00):
So I think, you know, particularly with that theme of
you know, women who built careers very purposely, I.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Think there's a couple of things.
Speaker 6 (01:09):
As I've always been a very independent person, so when
I grew up on a farm, a shetn Bee farm
near Rappaeroa and back. I just I loved farming, but
I also wanted to be able to do everything, so
I wasn't going to be defined by being a girl.
And when I was in my early twenties, there was
(01:32):
a promotion called women can do anything in agriculture, and
you know, that really resonated with me because I believe
that absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
So it helped that I love farming.
Speaker 6 (01:45):
And my dad was very in some ways not always
quite like open mind, and he believed in education. He
believed in being able to develop skills and do things well.
So I learned how to do everything on the farm
and I loved doing it.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So you know, like most.
Speaker 6 (02:02):
Farm kids, you learn to drive quite early, and you
know Dad's it's really important to know how to back
a trailer, and actually it is, and you know, fencing
and sharing and a whole lot of animal house stuff,
and so that from that early age, knowing that actually,
if you set your mind to learn something, you actually
(02:23):
can and being female is not a barrier to doing
physical work as well, because it's about technique. Doing anything well,
it's about your technique. It's not about your size or
your absolute strength, and so that I guess that belief
has kept with me as I've built my career that
(02:46):
actually I can do anything I put my mind to,
and it's about learning how to do it right and saying,
oh that's too hard or I'm not as such and such.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You know that actually, if you want to, you can.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
It's such an important point that you mentioned around technique
and getting the right technique and doing it correctly can
overcome perhaps some of those more physical challenges or other
barriers that might be their real or perceived. And so Bridget,
can you just take us through a little bit of
the snapshot of your career so far?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
An amazing foundation.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
That sounds like you've had growing up in rural life,
and how did that play out in terms of your career.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
Riper College is pretty small school, but I went to university,
and again that was my parents. It was very much
an expectation and something that they saw as a way
to move ahead. It wasn't you know still university back
then was a little bit more elitist than it is.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now, so it was a thing to do.
Speaker 6 (03:47):
And so I went down to Massi University and my
initial goal was to become a VET, but I didn't. Again,
one of the barriers big in a small school is
you're like you're a big fish in a tiny pond.
And I wasn't perhaps quite as smarter as I thought
I was. When you've got hundreds of students going for
like forty places at VET school, I wasn't so good
(04:09):
at wrote learning perhaps as I needed to be.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
So I didn't get into VET school.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
In all honesty, I don't regret that because I'm very
happy with the way my careers panned out. So I
switched to do agricultural science, which was enter this day
is an awesome degree because you do a lot of
actual science, which I think is a very important foundation
for anything in.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
The primary industries.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
And then you do management and you do agronomy and
animal health and so you get just this enormous breadth
of knowledge and a way of thinking. So that was
and then I stayed on at MASSI and did become
a junior lecturer, and I did my masters at that
(04:58):
time is in a more social research area, which again,
you know, when I look back, I learned so much
then that's brought into the work that I do today
around you know, products.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And like adoption why people do things.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
You know that that foundation for understanding that came, you know,
from when I did my masters and then it was
it was actually quite hard to work in the primary sector.
That was back when people were saying it's the sunset industry.
So there's shades of that now with people saying, oh,
how is it going to be that you know gone
and what have you? And I think, well, I've been
here before. I know that didn't happen, So we I worked.
(05:41):
So I decided to try different things and I ended
up with a job in Palmerston North with an organization
called the man Or two Commerce Center and so they
like the Chamber of Commerce, so you know that member organization.
That again that's sort of learning how do you how
do you work out what's important to other people? So
that's the businesses that are members. How how do you
(06:04):
start to deliver things that make them want to pay
their their subscriptions and build that. So again that was
something a bit different but really really useful. Then my
husband and I went overseas and we were away for
about five years, you know, the traditional ki we oe
(06:24):
and again at that time in the UK, there's not
many jobs ideally set up in London for someone with
an egg science degree. So I didn't do anything you
know that related back to the primary sector.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But we had an awesome time.
Speaker 6 (06:39):
You know, it's a great time in your life, no
commitments and yeah, just making quite a lot of money
and traveling and stuff. So and then we came back
here to New Zealand and we decided that we would
where we would go would be wherever, which every one
of us got a job first, and that's why we
ended up in Wellington, which we live today till today.
(07:03):
So from there, the first job I got in Wellington
was with what's called what now is in DTE So
it was Trade New Zealand back then, and that was
working and they had some sector bases, so that was
working in the meat and seafood sector. And so one
of the things when we came back to New Zealand is,
you know, I actively decided I wanted to get back
(07:25):
into the primary sector. You know, I wasn't interested in
building a career that was completely unrelated to that because
I knew that that was That's part of what you know,
brought us back to New Zealand. Something that I felt
really passionately about. And I think, you know, one of
your questions was, you know, around what advice would I
(07:45):
give to people starting out on that career journey. And
I think, not worrying so much about what am I
going to do or what job do I want to have,
but actually where where do I want to be and work?
Like what really lights your fire? And I think that
if you follow that and seek out things that are
(08:07):
in an area industry that you feel really passionate about,
you're going to get really great jobs and those opportunities
will open up for you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (08:17):
So I worked for MCTE for a number of years
in the meat and seafood sector, so that was again
really interesting, you know, being exposed to companies that were
at the start of transitioning. You know, New Zealand really
was starting to say how do we move from commodity
products into value add and you know some businesses, so
there was Richmond's Meat Plant. They were starting to look
(08:39):
at you know what actually was a brand as opposed
to just you boxes of frozen meat and stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
So that you know that again interesting.
Speaker 6 (08:49):
I got to travel overseas on a few delegations and stuff,
which was really great and that's I suppose to when
that again recognizing male dominated the primary sector, you know
is and I suppose reflection is back there, and then
we're talking, you know, the best part of thirty years ago,
(09:11):
lots of guys everywhere in the sector. Today it's still
very much the same this although it's not quite as
male dominated. There still are predominantly men, particularly in the
senior leadership roles in our biggest businesses. Yeah, so, which
is a little bit disappointing.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I'd have to say.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I'm just I'm really interested in this idea of bringing
more women into the sector. So it feels like there
are some spaces that are very male dominated still, But
then there are organizations and groups that are popping up
to support more women. And I understand that you might
have been part of it a few years ago and
(09:50):
bringing together a little bit of a movement in that
space a little bit, but I did.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
I've sort of launched something called Fields of Change. So
it does frustrate me enormously that we've got a lot
of challenges in the sector in front of us, but
a lot of the decision making and the control of
capital and the rate of progress is done by a
(10:21):
reasonably small group of the same people who mainly are men,
mainly a pakiher and mainly old. So I'm not saying
everyone's like that, And just because you're those things doesn't
mean that you were not forward thinking. However, you know,
there's there's a group think all of those people have
(10:44):
had the same experiences, They have the same perspective and
to do to actually get the type of change and
the rate of change that our sector needs to address,
the way consumers are viewing food and what they're wanting,
the the climate change, and then that relationship of the
tension between food production systems and the environment. We absolutely
(11:09):
have to do things differently, and we have to be
prepared to change how we do things much much faster
than we ever have before, and we'll get left behind
as a country. And so part of the reason I
think that gap between where we need to be and
where we are is just widening is because you know,
the status quo has so much invested in keeping it
(11:32):
the same, and some of it too, is they don't
quite know what the answer is, so they don't want
to be talking about that so much, you know, And
I think we're just where And then when I really
looked at it, and I thought, there's more women in
the sector, there's no doubt about that. But you look
at two things. So women in larger organizations in our
(11:53):
sector are not they might be in senior leadership teams,
but they'll be marketing the environment. Hr they're not the
chief operating officer. They're not the CEOs, and they're not
the finance managers. They're not they're not the roles that
actually genuinely have the power in organizations. And then there's
a lot coming in to businesses now, lots of lots
(12:16):
of young women coming out of university entering these larger organizations,
entering the sector, and then they just disappear they're not,
you know, and so there's a real disconnected you know,
you need to build a bench of people with the
experience to be able to be a CEO. You can't
(12:37):
be a CEO of a big organization if you haven't
done some operational things. So they actively need to have
programs to bring people up to get that experience, so
they can't turn around. So well, look, it's not that
we don't want a woman CEO, but we just don't
have anyone apply who's got the experience. Well, it's not
going to happen magically, we're stuck in this, we're not
(12:59):
progressing really thinking about what does it take to change.
And if you look in the government sector where they
mandated that they must have certain proportion of women CEOs
end of story. So then all of those agencies have
got how are we going to be able to get
people with the right qualifications to be able to make
them CEOs?
Speaker 2 (13:20):
And it's happened, isn't it. So yeah, I.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Love this because you're speaking to my soul here. As
a data this is what I do in my spare time.
I track the progress in an Excel sheet of women
and seeing a leadership position. So everything you said around
those positions being an HR perhaps being a marketing with sustainability,
I've seen that come through in the data. So I
(13:46):
love that you're talking about this and also the government
and the mandate coming through because it's really clear when
you drill into all the different and certain ones, in
particular the government departments, you can really see how clearly
they have focused on trying to progress women. And so
if I unpack some of your answers, are you suggesting
(14:07):
that what the agricultural industries need to do is effectively
look to promote females by design in terms of a mandate.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Yes, and you know it's not the government can't tell
private business how to run their business clearly, so they
can tell them like the gender or the pay equity
of reporting that can only be requirements of publicly listed companies,
(14:40):
can't even be across all companies. So it's however, first
of all, I think we, you know, as women, how
do we build momentum and gather together all this, all
the different initiatives and people and supporters of this to
actually keep pushing and making it an expectation and the
(15:06):
because if we don't, you know, we'll we'll miss the boat.
You know, it's it's the end of story where we're
The opportunity cost of not having a gender diverse women,
you know, people in positions of authority and influence is enormous,
the opportunity costs for our country. And it's it's not
(15:27):
like it's special to the primary sector, but the primary
sector is our biggest sector in New Zealand, so that's
why it's even more important for us. And I think too,
it's also just how we call out that difference between saying.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Oh, we agree, we agree that.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
Women should have equal opportunity and stuff to say, well, actually,
it's not just just getting to be having your hr
person as a woman, or that is not actually it,
that's not what it's about to actually run these businesses
and really having it's a it's an equity in an
equality in influence, in power, not in seats around a table,
(16:12):
which is there's a subtle difference there. And the other
thing I've heard, I mean it is it is absolutely
starting to happen, but just not purposefully enough. Is I've
heard people complain that their male son gets passed over
or they feel they feel gilted because a woman got
(16:35):
an opportunity to do something it is because they were
a woman, and they don't see that sphere. And I'm thinking, well,
you know, you've only had the last two hundred years,
you've had the lion's share. But so I'm sorry, I
don't you know, crime or river.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I'm not interested, bridget speaking of building these skills and
actually getting women into these positions to run these businesses
in the primary sector and ensure that they're continuing to
add value and innovate. What kind of characteristics in practical
applications should we actually be building in our young and
(17:14):
not even not so young women to be able to
get them into these positions.
Speaker 6 (17:18):
One of it definitely is confidence and belief you know
that that actually just because your view is different doesn't
make it less valuable. It actually, reality is makes it
more valuable because it's different. And being having the confidence
(17:38):
to speak, like actually to speak out. And then I
think the other thing too is learning how to ignore
or move past those you know, those put downs that
come when you do speak out and say something that
is different, that's not the standard approach to something, you know,
(18:01):
and there's always some guy in the meeting that will
be dismissive or try and minimize that contribution, and for
all of us that is actually a bit hurtful. And
then when you see it happen around you, you think, oh,
I don't want necessarily to have my thoughts put down,
particularly if you're not one hundred percent confident in that yourself.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
So I think that.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
That whole because invariably, when you get that conversation going,
there is others that was like, oh, yeah, that's a
really good point, you know, and just and and again
it's so much easier that when there are more women
in the room, and so again having people like understanding
(18:44):
that is a woman building your career and if you
want to have the skills to really succeed, you have
to be ready to be a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
You have to be ready to be the only one.
Speaker 6 (18:55):
I went a couple of weeks ago to the Electrifier
Arterror you know event up in Auckland, which was awesome,
and I went to one of the panel sessions, which
was the women vcs speaking and there was some guy
sitting in the front row who happened to have a
small VC company, and you know at the end when
(19:16):
there's questions, he didn't make a question.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
He just rambled on, wanting to say his thing, and so.
Speaker 6 (19:23):
Every you know, as men tend to do because they
can't possibly sit there and be invisible or just say okay,
that was interesting. You know, I have nothing to add,
so I'm going to be quiet anyway. So he's talking
on and on and on and he does not have
a question. And this is like there's a big sign
up behind saying questions. Yeah, so all around people, all
(19:44):
the women are saying, he's just man's plaining isn't he.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
He's just like, doesn't he?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
And I thought, I can't believe he can't hear this.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He was just so.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
No one was interested in what he had to say.
And I thought, well, that's quite good because you're getting
a bit of like what it's like often for women.
But you thought it was really interesting. But the tricky thing,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That is a tricky thing to navigate.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
And I was talking about this recently with my coach
and she reminded me that leadership is just a vision
that no one else can see. But it's having that
tenacity and the confidence to stay the course while you're
executing that vision, which is the challenging part. And where
you know some people can trip over if they're not
(20:31):
they don't have that innate sense of self confidence or
the right support system perhaps around them as well.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
That's right, yeah, And I think that's where you know,
culture and organizations is so important as well, and you
need the leaders in any organization, be the male or female,
to call out that that behavior that shuts conversation down.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
And so you person yourself, how have you have you
had times where you have experienced a super challenging moment.
But you mentioned how when you first came back to
New Zealand you're involved in the meat and the seafood
industry and it was very male at that point in time.
Have you had those moments, particularly for yourself and how
(21:20):
have you overcome them?
Speaker 6 (21:21):
I have, and I've had lots, I guess, you know,
back in those early days, some of it was just
you know a level of sexism that it was just
everywhere and.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
It was normalized.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
So I had I was doing this work when I
was at ag research in We're developing something and meat plants,
meat processing plants, and so involved doing like actually getting
on the plant and doing something, and as a woman
going into that environment and you know, you they would
stop and bang their knives like just because you're a
(21:56):
woman moving through the plant. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't
happen now, but you said, but that was just it
was the only reason they're doing it is because you're
a woman in this very male environment and they're just
wanting to see what reaction they're going to get from that.
And that's why I suppose, coming back to that, being
(22:18):
very confident in myself, think they're just being like chos.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
This is just typical men, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
You know?
Speaker 6 (22:25):
But latterly, you know, it's you know, and all that
stuff where people had the time when you're assumed to
be the assistant even though you're the CEO, when you're
the most important person in the room, but they choose
to speak to the guy who happens to be with you,
and it's exhausting.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
But I always call it.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
Out because I think if you don't, then you're condoning
it in some way. So but it is and finding
that balance again as women, you can't you can't be
too you don't. We can be if you want to
be grumpy about it, but that doesn't serve your purpose
longer term. So how do you do it in a
more lighthearted but direct way, saying don't.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Just be such a toss like did you not see
my card? It said CEO?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
That is a good response because as a people pleaser,
I think it's been engendered in me somewhere along the
line to make sure everyone feels comfortable. So in that situation,
I find it really difficult to speak up and call
out that behavior. Internally, I just tell myself that's fine.
I'll show them, and then I go up and present
(23:41):
when I think something similar, and I'm the keynote presenter.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
So that's the internal dialogue that I have.
Speaker 5 (23:49):
I'm not brave enough or comfortable enough to embrace that
moment of potential conflict.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Just to really clarify that position.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Yes, yes, and I think that you know, that's a
really good point as well, because that being a people
pleaser and being nice and being always smoothing the waters
as women right from when we're girls, that is so
just it's just everywhere, we're just like soaked in this
(24:23):
sort of way of behaving that it's really really hard
to not be like that, whilst at the same time,
like I know, fundamentally I am a nice, caring person,
and I actually don't want to go out of my
way to hurt people's feelings because why would I Why
would I be rude? And so trying to find that
(24:44):
balance between actually saying I'm a person who deserves respect
for me as a person and for my role in
whatever this is, but at the same time not being
rude and hurting someone's feelings, which in a way is
what they've done to me by being dismissive and disrespectful.
You know, that's a real I don't know. I always
(25:05):
get that right. And I think as I've got older,
I'm probably bearing to being clearer and less worried about
wrapping it up, because you know, I have genuinely just
got over it. I've got over being in a room
of men all the time. I want it different, I
really want it different.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And so.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
And again, I think the more young women can see
that and see that behavior, they see that, Actually you
don't have to just accept it and just sort of
smooth it over in your own head and move on that.
Actually you can say, maybe maybe we need to reset
some boundaries here or some guidelines, and this is who's
(25:51):
here in the room and what we're here to do.
That that over time might help change that. But it's
a really difficult it's a really difficult thing. It's the
other thing too. I suppose as I've got older, you know,
and so much time is passed from when I look
back to when I started my career, and I really
do reflect that fundamentally that balance has not shifted. I
(26:16):
find that disappointing, and that really just makes me so
I've got to push.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Harder because I don't want my daughter, who's.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
In her early twenties, I don't want her to have
to have exactly those same challenges. I really want to
move the dial a bit and make things more equitable.
And I think that that's you know, it's not just gender,
it's race as well, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
That equity and equality are.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Very different things, And a lot of men, I think,
don't get what that difference actually means. And so in
the gender perspective, you know, when you're looking at career
and career pre aggression, you know, you say, well, very
you know, young people in their thirties, they've got the
early late twenties, early thirties, they've got the equal opportunities
(27:09):
to take promotions. However, biology determines that that's when a
lot of women are having some time out to have
a child. Well, actually the men also happen to be
benefiting from that, because that's their children.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Someone needs to have them.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
And but all we're doing is saying, well, so if
we say it's got to be equal, yes they do,
but they've actually had a stage in their life when
they have other commitments which are very important. And unless
you think, how do we make it equitable for women
in that phase, we won't get people moving through.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
In the in the right you.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Know, balance and proportion, and so a whole lot of
amazing women. Then their career then just goes off in
a sidetrack because they're working part time or they're not
prepared to stay, you know, work really long hours or
do masses amounts of travel because actually someone it might
they might choose it to be them, but someone must
(28:12):
be home with children, you know, so and so it's I.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Think that's that's still is.
Speaker 6 (28:18):
We need to rethink how roles operate, particularly more senior
roles operate.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
Just reflecting a little bit on some of these things
we've talked about in terms of helping more women into
leadership sessions and potentially getting promotions, et cetera. I'm interested
that are you. Do you feel, as someone who has
occupied a CEO senior position in some in your own business,
as they understand it, that you're more of a position
(28:47):
to be able to encourage women through and consider those
opportunities for them.
Speaker 6 (28:52):
I think so in the sense that when you've been there,
you can talk with the voice of you know, experience
and knowledge and having traveled, like been through the challenges
really understanding what they will be and some strategies around
(29:12):
how you can can navigate that.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (29:18):
And also, you know, I do feel it's important to
stand up as a role model and you know, and
be visible and in the in a male context, I
wouldn't say I blow my one trumpet at all, but
you know, not to be too humble about what you
have achieved and what your capabilities are and actually be
(29:39):
prepared to step forward and demonstrate your competence and expertise
and you know, all of those things so that lots
of people can see it and think, oh okay, you know,
and so they can see themselves like on that journey
as well.
Speaker 5 (29:55):
We've talked about ideally how we could change some of
this current structures to support more females. Is what is
your hope for the future if you just look ahead
and think in the next ten years. You mentioned that
you've got beautiful daughter coming through and what ideal might
(30:15):
look like in that context, But if you look ahead
ten years, where do you hope that the industry, what
shape will the industry be in, and particularly with regards
to women, where do you think will be?
Speaker 6 (30:29):
It's where I hope and where I think you're probably
different things.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I think.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
Ten years in terms of the type of change we're
talking about wanting to affect, is not really a long time. However,
with the right impetus, a lot could happen in that time.
So I think if some of the have you been
(30:59):
three or four of the leading organizations, private sector organizations
in the primary sector, were to really dive deep into
what it would mean to transform their workplace from a
gender perspective, a lot could happen in that And I
think that within ten years we should be able to
(31:21):
see several more women CEOs of these larger organizations, and
more operational people, and a much greater balance as you
sort of move up that pyramid in terms of women
progressing through And you know, at the moment it's it's
(31:41):
at roughly ten percent or something like that. You know,
if we could get it to twenty five percent in
ten years time, that would be awesome, And I think
that would make a material difference as well. So you know,
that's what I that's what I would hope. I think
it's how likely that is is going to take a
(32:06):
push in a way that I can't quite envisage where
it's going to come from is. Yet the thing that
I that I do really struggle with thing is in
ten years time, when we think about our sector and
where it needs to be, it needs to be radically
transformed because the challenges of climate and of consumer are
(32:30):
just enormous and what we're doing today is not going
to meet those, It's not going to be delivering you know.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So yeah, that's.
Speaker 6 (32:39):
I wish, you know, I wish I could say and
I'm going to do this, I'm going to but you know,
as I say, launching the fields of change, and you know,
thinking about that, it's actually again where we need to
sort of I suppose get a coalition of champions, and
but it's hard to do that when everyone's like busy
(33:02):
working and doing like who's this is no one's actual job.
It's something that's something so many people want to achieve.
But you know, how do we how do we actually
really get that that momentum and pull together the different
different things that are happening and set some yeah, some
(33:22):
how to sort of things? How you know, how could
how could we actually do that?
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And I suppose that's partly why we're looking to interview
some of these more successful women in our sector. To
actually think about how we can make some change and
kind of move things forward into the position where you've
just talked about, and I think on reflecting on that
conversation today, I think it's about bringing that collective foward
(33:50):
and being able to leverage that collective knowledge, but also
the power of having more people involved. I just like
to say a big thank you for enjoying us today,
because I think we're nearly out of time, but I
feel like we could talk to you for hours. We
didn't even touch on your business achievements, just an incredible career,
(34:12):
but I think really amazing to hear some of your
really straightforward and honest opinions about where we're at in
our sector and what positive things we can do to change.
So I just want to say a huge thank you
for being an incredible leader for us and trailblazing that
(34:33):
way for people like Emma and I, but a lot
of our listeners as well, who are looking for role
models and people that they can yeah, can support them.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, no, thank you And it's great.
Speaker 6 (34:47):
I mean I could talk for hours about this. I
feel so passionately about it as well. And the other
thing too is I don't feel like I'm near the end,
you know. I think, having gown it all of this
knowledge and experience, I've got more things I want to achieve.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
But I also feel I've got.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
So much more I can give back, and so you know,
I'm really actively looking and thinking about how can I
do that, how can I keep making positive impact?
Speaker 5 (35:16):
So thank you, thank you so much, Bridget Look, we
would love to hear from you, and even more, we
would love for you to sign up as a member
of Rural Women New Zealand. So check us out on
our socials, give us a Google hit the join butt
and help us make more of a difference for rural
women across New Zealand.
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