Kirsten Deprose. Source: Women's Agenda.
Rural women are producing their own podcasts, according to new research. Kerstin Diprose argues that, ironically, traditional inequality in rural areas is the trigger.
I worked in mainstream media for nearly 20 years, and it always struck me as strange that in a workplace dominated by women, men held senior leadership positions and generally brought higher salaries.
Even in terms of who was featured in the news, there was a lot of male content. It continues to this day, with women only being quoted 30% of the time in news articles, and 59% of new article bylines coming from men.
But in rural areas, an interesting phenomenon is occurring using digital technology and independent media. Women are increasingly creating magazines, podcasts, online girlfriend communities, and other ways to connect and communicate.
And what's interesting is that for once, women have the upper hand. Women have historically been largely invisible and excluded from senior leadership positions in rural Australia. In fact, until 1994, Australian women could not even list their legal status as farmers.
Indeed, a lot has changed since then. However, the traditional division of agricultural labor in which men work on the farm and women take care of the housework and books still remains strong, leading to women being considered “part-time farmers” or lower-ranking partners in the business. This is often the reason why it is considered as such.
But there is one area where women have a significant advantage.
In general, rural women are much better than men when it comes to technology. This depends on her two main factors:
- Because women are responsible for bookkeeping, they have had to keep up with digital bookkeeping and tax filing.
- farmer wants a wife. Yes, TV shows contribute only a small amount to the statistics. However, only 10% of women take over farming, so it is mainly women who marry into farming. In doing so, they often bring their career skills and digital know-how with them.
So what ends up happening is that a lot of marketing professionals, journalists (like me), and business managers are thinking, “Maybe it's a little lonely here.'' Maybe I should find a rural woman like me and try to connect with her? ”
In a recent study I conducted with Dr. Maria Rey, radio and audio journalwe found that rural women are increasingly producing their own podcasts.
Most of the female podcasters we interviewed, whom we termed “bush podcasters,” started podcasting because they wanted to find rural women they could relate to.
for example, countryside compass The podcast will “help rural businesswomen feel less isolated and know they are not alone in their journey.”
After starting her podcast of the same name, Steph Tretheway founded Motherland, a national charity and online rural mothers' group. This year she was named the 2024 Tasmanian Australian of the Year.
“It is the heart of our community and motherhood has helped other women across the land feel less alone.”
Raising the voices of rural women is a key driver for many female 'bush podpreneurs'.Kimberly Furness, host A friend of mine and she makes the news The podcast wanted to rebalance a male-dominated space.
It's like, “Well, what should I do?'' [podcasting] I guarantee our voices are there,” she said.
I started a podcast. duck in the pondBecause I just wanted to hear some life and business advice related to how I live my life (i.e. I live an hour out of town and my “ice bath buddy” wakes me up at 4 a.m.) No more telling me to go to the gym) Two young children going to school and a farmer husband who left at 6 in the morning! )
So before you picture a country woman baking scones on the kitchen stove, you should probably picture her recording a podcast in her home studio. She's changing her stereotypes… episode by episode.
Kirsten Diplos is a PhD candidate at Deakin University and founder of Rural Podcasting Co. duck in the pond Podcast.
This article was first published by women's agenda.
