Global community for women in the meat industry, Meat Business Women, has launched international research tracking how many women are working in the global meat sector, and is calling for businesses to participate by supplying employee data.
The research aims to track the progress a 2020 report, which was instigated by the United Nations. This year’s final report will form a part of the World Meat Congress in October, the group said.
The report aims to deliver information on the percentage of women employed at different organisational levels and perspectives from key leaders on what’s helping and hindering gender equality and inclusion more broadly in the meat industry.
Chair of Meat Business Women, Laura Ryan, said: “In order for the meat industry to remain resilient and sustainable, it needs to understand how best to progress gender equality.
“This report will track progress since the 2020 report and share practical recommendations that both the sector and individual organisations can adopt to create a positive change.
“It’s crucial that businesses play their part in this essential research by supplying basic employee data so that it can provide a comprehensive understanding of the ‘state of the nation’.”
Meat Business Women is also calling for individuals who work in the sector to have their say in the research by taking a short anonymous survey and taking part in focus groups.
The group said the information obtained from participating businesses during the study will be “treated with the strictest confidence and will be stored anonymously”.
Taking part and focus groups
Organisations taking part in the research are encouraged to complete the submission of basic employee data by Friday, March 24, which can be found on Meat Business Women’s website.
Individuals in the meat industry looking to partake in the research can complete the short anonymous questionnaire via the same website.
As well as the data and survey, Meat Business Women will be running three 90-minute focus groups.
The three dates and times for the focus groups are:
- Thursday, March 23, at 10:00a.m;
- Thursday, March 23, at 3:00p.m;
- Wednesday, April 5, at 8:00a.m.
Their purpose is to have a more detailed conversation with women who work in the sector to explore their ideas on what the sector is doing well, what it is doing less well and where the opportunities for change are when it comes to both gender inclusion and inclusion more broadly.
Members of organisation’s taking part in the group’s research are encouraged to have at least one member of team involved in the focus groups. Registration for the groups can be done via the Meat Business Women’s website.
