Leadership course ‘lit a fire’ for dairy woman

Julie Dee (38), dairy farming in the Waitaki region of North Otago, says the Pathways six-month leadership and coaching course she attended can help many more dairying women. She completed it last November.

"We need programmes like this to lift people up in dairy communities, because the need has never been greater," she says.

Pathways, by the Agri-Women's Development Trust and the Dairy Women's Network (DWN), includes two two-day leadership workshops held six months apart, and three coaching and mentoring sessions in between. It helps women to lead change in their businesses and communities, and to identify their skills and strengths.

About 30 women have attended courses, with funding by DairyNZ and Ministry for Primary Industries.

Dee learned about Pathways during the 2015 DWN conference, from chief executive Zelda de Villiers.

"A fire was lit in my belly," she says. "I felt passionately that more North Otago women should get involved in the network," says Dee. She applied for the course and became the North Otago convenor for DWN "to be a more active leader in my community."

Dee, who has two children -- Connor (6) and Erin (4) – was born in Scotland and came to New Zealand in 2003, meeting Paul Dee, a dairy farmer. They married in 2008 and have sharemilked in Waimate and Waitaki for ten years.

Dee had worked in media planning and marketing but began learning to milk cows, feed calves and help on the farm.

"Pathways opened my eyes to my achievements, which I hadn't taken stock of," she says. "I'd moved to the other side of the world, started a different career and become a mum, [but only] on the programme did I realise the grit and determination it had taken to do that, and to appreciate what I had achieved."

Dee says women don't always value the skills they gain from motherhood or community roles. "We need to stop saying things like, 'I'm just a mum', or 'I'm just a Playcentre parent'. That's where you learn valuable skills and take on important roles and responsibilities. Pathways helped me to reconnect to my core strengths and boosted my confidence."

The course emphasises goal setting, and Dee set a goal to form a strong DWN group in North Otago. About 250 women now belong in the area, and 200 follow it on the network's North Otago Facebook page.

Dee stresses the need for rural women's networking and social support, "to get out and off the farm and connect with others, especially others facing similar challenges".

As convenor she has organised regular social events for North Waikato DWN, and seminars on health and safety, calf rearing, contract negotiation and budgeting.

Last year, with Federated Farmers, Rural Support Trust, Plunket and local vets and banks she helped organise two support days for dairy farmers in Waitaki and Waimate, along with calving and other commitments.

"If I can be part of something for the women of the region, and help make the region stronger, it's worth it," says Dee.

She sees women as the backbone of the dairy community. "Often when you see a strong rural community it's where the women are working together – managing school events and fundraisers," says Dee.

The Dees recently finished a sharemilking contract and are now considering their next business move.