This is part 2 of a 3 part series with John Deere’s Jenny Ose talking about the barriers women face in the work-place, career-building and how women can help each other get ahead in their careers.  Ose spoke at the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario in October.

Barriers for women to get ahead in their agricultural careers still exist.

Jenny Ose is the Manager of the Canadian Ag and Turf Sales Organization for John Deere.

She says there are still parts of the agriculture industry where there are more men than women and it is imperative that women support each other, however that is not always the case.

Ose says in some cases women believe other women are their competition, which is a barrier.

She says she often sees women try to take each other down as one of their competitors when they should be there for one another.

“If there is a room where there are only five women and 30 men, they believe they need to stand out and so rather than trying to lift up the other women in the room, have their back and support them as well as try to make sure as a collective audience of five women with 25, 30 men in the room they try to take each other down,” Ose said.

READ PART 1: AWCA: Three things women can do to help each other with their Ag careers

Ose says a barrier that is changing is the thought that agriculture is viewed as a man’s place.

She says in the last 20 years the industry has started to overcome that, but it still exists.

“However, there are still some out there some older generations depending on it.”

Ose has been a part of the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference for a number of years.

She says attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference has helped her network

“I go out on-farm visits, I go to farm shows, I go to different industry events, anything linked to agriculture and I know people and they know me, it’s because of the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference.  The networking is a phenomenal opportunity for anybody in this space to build life-long personal and professional relationships.”

RELATED: Students network and learn at Advancing Women in Agriculture Conferences

For more information on the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference and to register click here.