Women supporting women crucial in time of Me Too, addressing harassment

Women have always had a place at the farming table. Besides the basic fact that wives and mothers were and are a valued, and sometimes unappreciated, member of the farm crew, taking part in everything from cooking meals to driving truck, more and more women are joining the industry as educated agriculture professionals and leaders on board and executives.

Women face their own challenges in these roles, from time management and family obligations, but there has also been no shortage of incidents where women are dealing with harassment or mistreatment.

According to the Canadian Labour Code, “harassment and violence means any action, conduct or comment, including of a sexual nature, that can reasonably be expected to cause offence, humiliation or other physical or psychological injury or illness to an employee, including any prescribed action, conduct or comment.”

Starting January 1, 2021, the Canadian government requires federally regulated industries and workplaces to have harassment prevention policies in place as part of their health and safety strategies.

While this includes essential services and some areas of the agriculture sector, Dorothee van Dijk has already seen some improvements in harassment discussions at her agriculture-based workplace, including at the public trade shows that she has been attending across Canada and the United States for the past 15 years, currently with NexusBioAg as part of their management team.

Ninety-nine per cent of her interactions have been great, Van Dijk told farmnewsNOW, but that one per cent can be stressful and in some cases scary with many abusers not facing any consequences for their actions. The list of shows she goes to on a yearly basis is extensive and she experiences harassment, verbal or physical in varying degrees of severity, at least once a show.

When she first came into the industry it was the general assumption that women were entering a man’s environment and had to be strong, thick-skinned and just take whatever jokes or insults were thrown their way. That was not, and still is not, a helpful way to approach harassment in the industry, she said.

“I’ve gotten to a place where like these things sort of happened to me and now I’ve kind of had it up here, like I’m really sick and tired of it. Just brushing it off long term, it doesn’t work, because it’s still something that affects you.”

Dealing with these incidents has been a combination of creating a personal network while also having supportive management who are willing to stand up against these incidents.

Addressing these incidents, especially for the first time, can be uncomfortable and awkward and, for Van Dijk, filing complaints or wanting these incidents addressed in some way 10 years ago did not yield any results except judgment of the way she conducted herself or the way she was dressed. Over the last seven years, she has also seen more women coming forward and companies taking a stand against this kind of harassment; Van Dijk cites the Me Too movement specifically for this shift.

Creating her informal network of women, ones that she can debrief with following difficult incidents, was Van Dijk’s own personal change, she said.

“I found a group of women that were very open to hearing about this and also very much have the mindset that no, you don’t have to grin and bear it. This is not okay. So it gave me a place to go that was supportive and like, supportive in the right way.”

Being part of this supportive group, Van Dijk said this means not trying to justify the harassment.

“We need to be people that unequivocally say, “You know what, that’s gross. I’m sorry, that happened to you, that absolutely isn’t right, and how can I support you?’”

From a company perspective, Van Dijk said she now works for a company that is supportive of people who are harassed.

“The fact that I work for an organization that takes it so seriously means that I can immediately turn around and report this and we can go now address this. My manager is going to go talk to this person and this person’s boss about what happened.”

Lisa Guenther, the first female editor of the Canadian Cattlemen magazine, has also dealt with harassment in the industry but she is grateful for the support she has received from management in her workplaces.

Working agriculture trade shows in her 20s, Guenther saw her share of creeps, some that even worked at other booths near her. As she has gotten older, her own attitude towards what she is able and willing to address when facing harassment has changed as well.

“As we get older, we get grumpier and less concerned about raising a fuss if we have to,” Guenther told farmnewsNOW.

Even speaking with women in the generations before, Guenther said there are more shocking stories of how women were treated within the industry. While Guenther knows that it is not everyone’s story, addressing harassment when it does happen is crucial for all industries.

“I feel like it’s probably easier to deal with now than it would have been 40 years ago. We seem to have been more accepting of the fact that it happens and we’re done and we’re sick of it.”

Going through an experience with someone stalking her, Guenther said there was a small group of people who shifted blame and gaslighted her when she was reporting the individual. However, she also found her own group of people who supported her and helped her “resolve the situation peacefully”.

“There were also women and men who really stepped up, and without them, I’m not sure what would have happened, as some stalkers persist for years or even decades. I’m grateful to my local and wider ag/work community for all the support.”

It’s not easy to ask for help in these situations, said Guenther, but she wants women to know that there are people out there who will support their actions to address harassment.

“I think we were put on this earth to help each other through tough times, and many other people think the same way.”

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim