Engaging Farm Women from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds in Education and Training

Parker FE¹*, Flood K¹ and Jarecki S¹

1. University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW, Australia

Although farm women play an integral role in farm management in general they have little access to information, education and training. This is particularly acute for women from diverse cultural backgrounds with limited formal education and English language skills, and who are socially and geographically isolated. There are around 2000 market gardens in the Sydney Basin, supplying 90% of Sydney’s perishable vegetables, with an economic value of over $200 million pa. They are family farms, where the contribution of women is essential to the economic and social well being of their families, the industry, and the region. However, women are socially isolated and marginalized, despite their proximity to a large city, Sydney, in Australia, an industrialized country. Government agencies have relied on industry associations, in which women have a very limited, if any, participation. This paper describes and analyses the specific strategies developed to engage women from a range of cultural backgrounds (Lebanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian) working on market gardens in education and training essential in their role as farm managers, including safety and the safe use of pesticides. It describes the advantages and problems of working in partnerships to engage the community, government and non-government agencies, and industry associations, and draws on the experiences of including women in the development agenda in “developing” countries.

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