Beef Australia 2021: Gender diversity key to countering anti-meat sentiment

Employing even more women in the beef sector will not only boost its image — but also profits, says a key industry figure.

Madeleine Stuchbery

@MadeStuchbery

2 min read

May 3, 2021 - 9:50AM

The Weekly Times

Meat Business Women founder and global chair Laura Ryan speaking at the CQUniversity industry symposium at Beef Australia 2021 today. Picture: Madeleine Stuchbery

A key weapon in the fight against a growing global anti-meat sentiment and ensuring a sustainable future for Australian beef is gender equality.

That’s according to one key industry figure, speaking this morning at the Beef Australia 2021 event in Rockhampton, who said women employed in the beef industry would boost not only the image of the meat industry but also profits.

Meat Business Women founder and global chair Laura Ryan, speaking at the CQUniversity industry symposium, said the global livestock industry had reached a crossroads in the last 18 months and it was important to address these “in a strategic way”.

“We need to think about sustainability for the meat industry in a wider sense,” Ms Ryan said.

Creating a resilient and strong livestock industry was also important to fight back against a growing global anti-meat lobby, according to Ms Ryan.

“The anti-meat lobby is so well funded, so aligned … and we need to have safety in numbers,” Ms Ryan said.

“The pressure against us is huge, we can’t tackle this individually.

“Gender diversity is at the centre of that.”

Ms Ryan said she fell into the meat industry “by accident”, and said it was important to attract women to the job in a concerted manner.

“I never thought I’d spend my career in the meat industry and I love it. I started to realise I was the only woman in the room … I realised we have an issue, and need to work on this together,” Ms Ryan said.

Ms Ryan said better representation of gender in the meat industry was vital for the future of the red meat industry, and was important for customers and the industry’s employee base.

“There’s a clear link between increased gender equality and a more sustainable meat industry,” Ms Ryan said.

“By having different genders working in a team, it makes it more productive. But it’s about profit. We’ve already heard about processors running on wafer thin margins. Data shows a female talent pipeline all the way to the top of a business shows it will be more profitable.”

Ms Ryan founded Meat Business Women as an attempt to unite the global beef industry and increase the appeal of working as a female in livestock.

“The meat industry can be quite faceless at times,” Ms Ryan said.

“It’s about putting faces out there, showing the amazing opportunities and showing the culture is important.”