A partnership to make Martha proud
Farmers Weekly and AgriHQ CEO Dean Williamson and Rural Women New Zealand CEO Sandra Kirby look forward to developing a new partnership between the two organisations.
Rural Women New Zealand, known as the Women’s Division of the Farmers Union at the time, was founded by a woman called Florence Polson.
Her husband William was president of the New Zealand Farmers Union and supported its paper, the New Zealand Farmers’ Advocate. In 1922 Florence started writing columns in the paper, believing the needs of rural women were being neglected. She did this under the pseudonym Martha.
Martha wrote about things that mattered and things that challenged the status quo.
When the Farmers’ Advocate was superseded by the Farmers Weekly in 1924, Florence ran her own column. It was all about improving life for rural women.
She was concerned about things such as farming women’s lack of financial independence, outlined a scheme to sell produce to townswomen and called for greater help in the home. She thought the rural woman was taken for granted and she did something about it.
More than 100 years on, as we celebrate our centennial year, Farmers Weekly has given Rural Women New Zealand an opportunity they think Martha would be proud of. A platform to share our members stories, and a platform to make a positive difference to the lives of rural women and communities around the country.
Every week you’ll find us here, sharing the stories that matter. Rural Women is going to talk about Activato, the start-up incubator for rural entrepreneurs; NZI Business Awards; our latest submissions on things like pay equity and emergency management; access to life-saving emergency medicines; keeping our families safe on farm. Our members’ charitable and business ventures; what matters to rural communities; and the challenges they are facing. We hope you enjoy reading them, as much as we enjoy sharing them.
In the spirit of how our advocacy started all those years ago, we too start this partnership with a letter.
