The Australian Women's Register

A fifth generation farmer, Ruth Paterson was born and bred on a dairy farm at Hagley, in the Tasmanian northern midlands. The youngest of three girls, she was desperate to take on agriculture as a career when she left school, but tradition did not see an ‘official’ place for women as famers in that era, so she went to Launceston and worked in the insurance industry, until she married a farmer and returned to the land.

She became involved in the Tasmanian Rural Youth Organisation, the members of which take a major roll in the organisation of AGFEST, Tasmania’s major agricultural festival. It was then that she realised she had unmet ambition as a spokesperson for agricultural interests in Tasmania. As well as gaining professional satisfaction from working in agriculture, she was passionate about publicly raising issues of importance to farmers.

At the time of her award, she was concerned about the perceived divide between country and city dwellers. ‘I think city people still see us as a bunch of whingers who drive their Mercs to town in their tweed suits and their Stetsons,’ she said. ‘Well, we’re a long way off that.’ She thought that people of the city needed to understand better the realities of farming that confront most Australians involved in agriculture.

At the same time, she believed that farmers need to change their attitude to the land. ‘Ten years ago Landcare was the greenie, radical hobby farmer,’ she observed. ‘Now, if farmers and mainstream community groups aren’t into some form of Landcare, they’re not in the race.’

Through her involvement in organisations like the Tasmanian branch of Women in Agriculture, Paterson has seen a gradual shift in attitudes with regard to the involvement of women in the decision making process, not only on farms but at an organisational level. Awards such as the Rural Woman of the Year Award contributed to that change, by helping women to network and to feel confident in their opinions and abilities. ‘That’s what the Rural Women’s movement is about,’ she says. ‘Just teaching that extra bit of confidence.’