The mental load carried by rural women is a systemic issue, not a personal resilience failing, Kellogg alumna and South Island farmer Kaylene Bennett says.

Her report, Is The Car Park Too Full?, drew 196 survey responses and 15 interviews with women in leadership roles.

“It’s invisible really,” she says.

“I’ts so hard to be seen, but it’s the juggling and the organising, the capacity that’s needed in your head space to run on a daily basis.”

Over the past six months, 80% of respondents placed themselves in the “reacting or ill” range, she says.

“There’s significant investment in the mental well-being of men, which is incredibly important as well.

“But the mental load of rural women is never discussed.”

Bennett wants acknowledgement first, then flexible rural childcare.

Read the full report here.

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.