As I write this column today, I know you will be reading it weeks after International Women’s Day was recognized, on March 8. However, since it is easy to have it slip past without it even breaking into our consciousness, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad thing to reflect on, no matter the month. Especially considering that 2026 has been designated International Year of the Woman Farmer by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. International Year of the Woman Farmer! Let that sink in. 

Although historically we were largely unrecognized, women have played a vital role in agriculture for .. well, as long as humans have farmed. In designating 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer, the UN is recognizing this contribution and also that it has often been overlooked. Women contribute in many ways as owners, partners, employees, unpaid labourers, as well as in raising the next generation of farmers. 

According to an Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) fact sheet published in January, women’s roles in agriculture are changing. The 2021 Census reported that almost 80,000 women were farming, the first increase in 30 years. And women are running larger farms than in the past. The same census saw an 86.3 percent increase in women running farms with over $2,000,000 in revenue and a 41.5 percent increase in women running farms under $2,000,000 in revenue.  

Thirty one percent of Ontario farmers are women. Women are taking more of a leadership role in agricultural organizations as well. In the OFA itself, almost 50 percent of board members are women and three provincial presidents have been women. 
The history of women’s rights (generally speaking) in Canada is also interesting, especially concerning work and land ownership. If you are ever looking for a rabbit hole to go down on a rainy day, the Nellie McClung Foundation is a great resource for learning about when the dates and laws in Canada changed. I found the language of this one especially interesting – 150 years ago, in 1876, British common law stated that “women are persons in matters of pains and penalties, but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges.” It took until 1929 for us women to be declared persons who could enjoy both the privileges and penalties that came along with that title. 

The Married Women’s Property Act of 1884 allowed women in Ontario to make legal agreements and buy property. This took a while to move through Canada, becoming law in Québec in 1964, and allowed women to own, buy, and manage property, keep the wages that they earned without giving them to their husbands, and to enter into contracts independently. In case you think this is old news, my sister, after paying a mortgage for a farm she owned with her husband for 10 years, discovered she had no credit history and could not get a credit card on her own. His name was listed first, so she didn’t exist as far as credit history was concerned. 

Interestingly, if a married woman owned property in 1885, she was equally responsible for paying the property taxes. Her husband was allowed to vote, but of course, she was not. The first women granted this right lived in Manitoba and it happened in 1916. The provinces gradually followed suit, with Canada finally declaring “every eligible Canadian over 21, male or female,” the right to vote in federal elections, however Indigenous people, Asians, and Hindus were still excluded at that time.

While voting, of course, is now legal for everyone of a certain age, it is interesting to note that it took a long fight to get there and was not guaranteed for everyone until 1960. Women played pivotal roles in achieving this, as well as the right to own property, the right to earn a fair wage, and as mentioned earlier, the right to be recognized as “persons.”

Legislation passed in 1951 helped move society towards greater labour equality with two bills – one suggesting fair employment practices and the other fair remuneration for women. In the 75 years since those bills were passed, the wage gap still exists. Statistics Canada reported that, in 2025, Canadian women earned 89 cents for every dollar earned by men. This gap is bigger for racialized and Indigenous women, who earned 79 cents. 

All this is to remind us that equality is a process that takes time, passion, and commitment – usually by the people who are being treated unfairly. Throughout my career, I have dealt with men who refused to deal with me because of my gender, and could not understand that a woman could be a farmer without a husband. But things are improving. 

In Québec, female farmers have their own organization – Agricultrices du Québec – whose members launched a pilot project to mentor women in agriculture and forestry sectors. Due to its success, the AgriMentor program was expanded and taken Canada-wide in 2024. It is supported by the OFA and is open to Canadian women for roles as mentors and mentees. Women who serve as mentors are offered a $500 honorarium. The program helps young women get into the profession by offering support, guidance, and insight. More information on this program is available through the OFA by contacting Tyler Brooks, Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations, Ontario Federation of Agriculture, 519-821-8883 x218, [email protected]. ◊