New research shows rural women are producing their own independent podcasts… Kirsten Diprose argues that ironically, it’s the traditional inequality of rural areas that’s been the catalyst.
I worked in the mainstream media for nearly two decades, and it was always bizarre to be in a female-dominated workforce, but with the men in the senior leadership positions and in general bringing in the higher salaries.
The content was also heavily male in terms of who was featured in the news. It still is today, with women quoted only 30 per cent of the time for news stories and 59 per cent of bylines for new stories are men’s.
But in rural areas there’s an interesting phenomenon that’s happening with digital technologies and independent media. Women are increasingly creating magazines, podcasts, online communities, and other ways to connect and communicate.
And it’s interesting because, for once, women have the upper hand. Historically in rural Australia, women have been largely invisible and excluded from senior leadership positions. Indeed, until 1994, Australian women couldn’t even list their legal status as a farmer.
Granted, a lot has changed since then. But there’s still a long held, traditional farm labour split of the man working on the farm and the woman looking after the household and the books, which has often caused women to be seen as “secondary farmers” or lesser partners in the business.
But there is one domain, where women are well out in front.
See, in general, rural women are significantly better than the blokes when it comes to technology. This comes down to two main factors:
1) Because women do the bookwork, they have had to keep pace with digital bookkeeping and tax reporting.
2) Farmer Wants a Wife. Yes, the TV show makes a very slight contribution to the statistics. But because only 10 per cent of women inherit the farm, it’s mainly women who marry into farming. And when they do, they often bring their corporate career skills and digital know-how with them.
So, what we end up with is a whole lot of marketing professionals, journalists (like me) and business managers, thinking, ‘gee it can be a bit lonely out here Maybe I should find other rural women like me, to connect with?’
In recent research I conducted with Dr Maria Rae, which is published in the Journal of Radio and Audio, we found rural women are increasingly producing their own independent podcasts.
Most of the female podcasters interviewed, who we dubbed “Bush Podpreneurs,” started podcasting because they wanted to find other rural women they could relate to.
For instance, Sam Meurant, who founded the Rural Compass podcast said “it’s instrumental to stop that isolation for rural businesswomen and know that they’re not alone in their journey.”
Steph Trethewey founded Motherland, a national charity and online rural mother’s group, after starting her podcast of the same name. This year she was named 2024 Tasmanian Australian of the Year.
“It’s been the beating heart of our community…and helping other women on the land feel less alone through motherhood.”
For many of the female ‘Bush Podpreneurs’ raising the voice of rural women has been a key driver. Kimberley Furness, host of A Friend of Mine and She Makes News podcasts wanted to re-balance a male dominated space.
“It’s like, okay, what can I do? Oh, [podcasting] ensures that our voices are there,” she said.
I started my podcast, Ducks on the Pond, because I just wanted to hear life and business advice that was relevant to how I live (i.e.. no more ‘ice bath bros’ telling me to get up at 4am and go to the gym, when I live an hour away from town, have two young kids to get to school and a farmer husband who left at 6am!)
So, before you conjure up the image of the rural woman, at the kitchen stove baking scones… perhaps you should be thinking of her at her home studio, recording a podcast. She’s changing stereotypes…one episode at a time.
Listen to the Ducks on the Pond podcast episode: Becoming a Bush Podpreneur – How Six Rural Podcasters Built Their Audio Empires