75 years of the Rural Women's Association - Around one in three family workers on farms is female
Approximately one out of every third family labor force in the agricultural businesses of Schleswig-Holstein is a woman. In total, there were around 5,500 out of 17,800 family labor forces who were female, as the Statistical Office North announced on Monday. In 1949, there were approximately 85,800 female family labor forces in the Schleswig-Holstein agricultural sector. This accounted for 56% of the constantly employed family labor forces. The statisticians compared numbers from 2023 with the first agricultural census after World War II on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the German Women's Farmers' Association.
Family labor forces include farm owners and their spouses, as well as other family members and relatives who work for the agricultural business.
Women are active in various roles
Women are therefore active in various roles such as independent agricultural entrepreneur, managing directors in agricultural offices of large or small companies, herd manager, partner of the business manager, or as mini-jobbers in a business. The proportion of women among family labor forces in the agricultural businesses of Schleswig-Holstein is on average 31%.
Of the approximately 11,600 business managers and managing directors, 6,400 were employed full-time and 5,200 part-time in Schleswig-Holstein in 2023. Twelve percent of these managerial functions were carried out by a woman. In 1949, according to the statisticians, around ten percent of agricultural business managers were female.
Most agricultural businesses are family-owned
The 17,800 family labor forces provided roughly half of the workforce in the businesses, as the statisticians had previously reported for the year. The 12,690 permanently employed labor forces provided around 40% and the approximately 9,100 seasonal labor forces about ten percent of the business's work output. In the previous year, the majority of businesses were still owned by individual persons or couples (88%). The ratio of main (57%) to secondary (43%) businesses remained almost constant.
- The Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein revealed that during the Second World War, there was a significant decrease in female family labor forces in Schleswig-Holstein's agriculture, with only 10% of agricultural business managers being women.
- In contrast to the past, women now play prominent roles in Schleswig-Holstein's agricultural sector, making up 31% of the family labor forces, with some women serving as independent agricultural entrepreneurs, managers, partners, or mini-jobbers.
- To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the German Women's Farmers' Association, statisticians conducted a comparison between the current year's statistics (2023) and the first agricultural census after World War II, highlighting the significant growth in women's involvement in German and Schleswig-Holstein agriculture.
- According to the latest statistics, 17,800 family labor forces contribute to Schleswig-Holstein's agriculture, with just over a third (approximately 6,400) of the 11,600 business managers and managing directors being women, demonstrating the increasing presence of women in the agricultural workforce in Germany and Schleswig-Holstein.
