In a survey undertaken by the University of Exeter, in collaboration with the Centre for Rural Policy Research and The Farmer Community Network, with over two thousand women in farming in the UK and Wales, preliminary findings point to low mental wellbeing in female farmers.
The extensive research paper by the University looked at mental health in women farmers through different parameters, keeping in mind the positives, challenges, community support and physical health.
Positives
Among the positive aspects of working in agriculture, women pointed out working outdoors, the connection to nature, providing a positive place to raise children, being able to work with family and being their own bosses.
Challenges
The main challenges, these women reported, are maintaining a work/life balance, a lack of (free) time and challenges with their husbands or men in farming. More specifically, they point out encountering barriers to decision-making and having their capabilities compared to or judged against those of a man as problematic.
“Essentially being a single parent as he (husband, red.) works such long hours that I have to manage all the childcare and domestic issues alone”, one woman wrote down. Another cited “not being included in the decision-making/planning as it is a family partnership between my husband and his brother.” Yet another woman reports “the judgement and stigma of being weaker, less able. Farmers will speak to my husband and not to me.”
Equal opportunities and work/mental load
When asked if they agreed that they experienced equal opportunities in relation to their careers in farming, they results varied according to age categories. A lot of the farmers disagreed (29,4%), the majority being younger women; while 37% remained neutral and a third (33.5% agreed), most of those women being older.
The preliminary results of the survey indicate that women in agriculture juggle an average of four different tasks, the vast majority of their time going towards domestic work and childcare (79,8% of the surveyed women) and administrative work on the farm (70.1%). While 70% of them indicating they do a lot of practical animal and crop work, many of them are also responsible for accounting and bookkeeping (67,6%).
Decision-making and appreciation
While a majority of the women who participated reported being a part of the main decision-making on the farm (5,7% alone, 60.7% together with someone else), a striking third (32.1%) indicated having little or no say in the decision-making on the farm. Of those excluded, 39.2% wanted more responsibilities in the decision-making. The highest level of satisfaction was noticed in women who are part of the decision-making with a partner. The paper also mentioned that women with little to no decision-making power experience higher levels of loneliness, due to feeling unheard and the restrictions on their autonomy.
The majority if participants – 60,5% – reported feeling that their contributions are valued by others. A “notable minority” (23.2%) disagreed, while the rest remained neutral, the paper states. The feeling of their work being appreciated is positively associated with mental wellbeing and lower levels of loneliness, the research finds.
How are the women in agriculture?
So how are the women in agriculture in the UK and Wales? Well… not great, but not so different from the general population. Over half of them reported living with at least one physical or mental health condition expected to last twelve months or more (50.2%), which is in line with the broader UK population. A staggering 77,8% of those with a condition and 35.4% of all respondents are limited by at least one long term health condition, the study shows.
Mental health turns out to make up a huge percentage of these health issues, ranking second, right after arthritis/musculoskeletal conditions.
Furthermore, almost half of the respondents indicated that being a woman in farming has influenced their reproductive choices, the younger repondents (> 35) representing the vast majority.
Unsurprisingly, 36.7% of the women reported experiencing high anxiety due to perceived stress and loneliness, which is higher than the general population (26.1%). The same goes for mental wellbeing, which is significantly lower in women in agriculture than women from the UK population. Only 4.4% of women in agriculture in the UK and Wales reported a ‘high’ level of mental wellbeing, 35.9% reported it to be low.
The top three reasons for this low mental wellbeing in women are: lack of support/understanding, bureaucracy/red tape and pressure to succeed/future of the farm. Work/life balance and climate change are also big stress factors. Women who are resilient and can count on support by receiving emotional and social support, giving support themselves and feeling valued experience a significantly higher mental wellbeing. “Maintaining and building resilience appears therefore to be vital to women in farming. That is not to say that women should tolerate or put up with stressful events, but rather that they should be supported to learn positive coping mechanisms for when times are tough. (…) This is perhaps unsurprising, but it underscores the importance of this type of support for women in farming, suggesting that spouses, family members, friends, and the wider community can make a real difference to women by ensuring they feel heard, valued and supported”, the paper states.
Seeking help
Lots of talks with women in agriculture showed us that, in general, women are better at asking for help than men. The study’s findings support that, however noting the prominent perception that women’s health problems are not “bad enough” to seek professional help.
Now what?
So what do we do with this information which, if we’re being honest, confirms what we already knew as women in agriculture? While the survey’s results reveal concerning issues, they also provide a path forward for a better mental wellbeing for women in agriculture.
“Our research identified significant challenges. Women on farms in England and Wales reported notably higher levels of stress and anxiety than the general population, along with lower subjective mental wellbeing. However, alongside these challenges, we have also pinpointed key factors that may improve future outcomes.”
Women fare better when their hard work is valued, when they receive emotional support, are included in the decision-making and have an extensive social network that allows them to confide if they experience issues and to decompress from the high-stress work that is farming.
Research like this one is crucial in understanding the challenges women in agriculture face because knowing is power. Women in Ag is curious about the continuation of this work and how it could positively influence the wellbeing of women in agriculture.
Source: Nyczaj Kyle, S., Wheeler, R., Broomfield, C., Lobley, M., Nye, C., Phillimore A. and Jones, L. (2026). Health and Wellbeing of Women in Farming Survey: Preliminary findings. Centre for Rural Policy Research, Exeter. ISBN: 978-1-915961-08-2.
Click here to read the paper: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/womeninfarming/
