Survey to see if men catching up to women in technology use in the bush

As reported by the North Queensland Register in 2014, Rachel Hay found that women were the drivers of technology in rural, regional and remote areas. Now she intends to see if anything has changed.

Ms Hay said she will again look at the extent to which rural women use technology, and their views on their role in managing new livestock management tools.

She said her previous study found that women in rural, regional and remote areas use most components of online technology three times more often than men.

“While sometimes women were initially reluctant to take on the digital homestead tasks, once adopted they felt empowered and valued in their work. 

“They view their role as valuable and important to the business and the family. They view learning and managing current and emerging livestock management tools as empowering, self-fulfilling, and personally satisfying, and their partners support these views.” 

While the aim of the study is to discover if women are still prominent in this role, there is some evidence that men are adopting mobile technology more than they have in the past.

Ms Hay observed less than 2 per cent of men using smart phone technology in her 2014 study, but by 2015 at a large agricultural field day in Queensland, nearly every man was using a smartphone.

She said she spoke to a farming couple from South Australia who were at the Queensland-based field day for the first time. They were able to attend because they had remote water sensing and video technology on their property. 

Ms Hay said workers in rural, regional and remote areas are few and far between and often isolated. 

“So I’ll also be investigating whether ‘technological properties’ – those with high levels of internet connectivity and automation - are more attractive to workers and children who live on the stations.”

Ms Hay said she thought her main challenge would be to get men to complete the survey.

You can click here to complete the survey.