The International Day of Rural Women, also known as International Rural Women's Day, has been celebrated on October 15 since 2008.
In New Zealand, rural women play an essential role in our agriculture sector, and thanks to the generations of women who came before us, we now have a much more level field to farm on.
We have some strong and intelligent women in leadership positions in the primary sector.
Tracy Brown will be elected as chairperson for DairyNZ in October (who you can read about in this issue), Kate Acland is chairperson for Beef + Lamb New Zealand.
Keri Johnston is chairperson of Irrigation New Zealand, and Charlotte Connoley is president of the New Zealand Grain & Seed Trade Association.
Kate Trufitt is the chief executive of Potatoes New Zealand, and Kate Scott is the incoming chief executive of Horticulture New Zealand.
Emma Poole was the first female to win the FMG Young Farmer of the Year contest in 2023.
The list goes on, and its an impressive one.
Many women are doing the mahi on the ground, too—running and managing farms either independently or making an invaluable contribution to the decision-making and labour of family farming partnerships.
Despite the fact that the grass ceiling has (for the most part) been effectively shattered, it is important to continue to celebrate rural women's impact on our primary sector both now and in the past.
When we examine the history of New Zealand agriculture, we cannot overlook the significant and lasting contribution of the Women's Land Service, known as the Land Girls.
Established in 1942, this group of women from diverse backgrounds had the important responsibility of ensuring a steady food supply to the citizens of Britain and New Zealand, the New Zealand armed forces, and the 45,000 American soldiers stationed in New Zealand who were involved in the war in the Pacific.
Some women were trained on the farm, while others studied at the Canterbury Agricultural College at Lincoln University, which offered a six-week course on the basics of farming.
Each intake comprised of 21 women, all unmarried and over the age of 17.
The women helped on the university farm, Ashley Dene, to relieve the lecturers who had been keeping the farm running in the absence of workers.
Once they graduated from the course, these women were placed on farms throughout the country, working long hours, with sometimes only an afternoon off each week.
Even with a lack of experience and resources, and with the 4000 women in the land service effectively replacing the 28,000 men who had gone off to war, wool and meat production during this period was at a record high.
Despite their efforts, New Zealand Land Girls, unlike their British counterparts, were not officially recognised by the government until 2011.
There was no record of where women were placed or their achievements.
There is no doubt, though, that these pioneering women helped reshape perceptions about women and work during the 1940s, laying the groundwork for women's participation in the primary sector.

By Claire Inkson