TODDLER Lucy Whatley might be far too young to consider a future career but can look to her mother and grandmother to see women can do anything.
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This is the culture Fiona Whatley and her mum Jo Barber have worked hard to instill in their family and business, Springhill Farm.
Known for home-style, homestead treats, Springhill Farm started with Jo making and serving visiting school children muesli slice at the family farm in the mid-1980s.
For me, being a woman in business was really quite organic...There are lots of women working on farms, detouring into the food industry required a lot of the same skills and you make a lot along the way.
- Jo Barber, Springhill Farm founder
Now a growing nation-wide business, led by Fiona and her husband James, Springhill Farm's workforce is more than 50 per cent female employees at its Delacombe base. Springhill Farm has about 40 workers with clients such as Qantas, Hudsons Coffee and Officeworks and contract work to manufacture for rival products.
Fiona, Springhill Farm's general manager, said while women were under-represented in the manufacturing industry, it had been a natural fit in their business.
"We've got very flexible employment and you can juggle work a little more, especially in the office, and you can see women have certain strengths on the floor, particularly in packing," Fiona said. "International Women's Day allows a chance to step back and reflect on that.
"...The number of women now in business is the culmination of decades of change in society. It provides an opportunity for a different way of thinking, of leading and of creating and is an important role for women to play in showing the next generation that women can do anything.”
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Fiona has worked in the family business for more than 10 years, balancing her role as general manager with being a mum to four young children.
For Fiona, International Women's Day is a celebration of the complex, challenging and rewarding roles women play in work, family and community environments - and the huge changes for women in the spaces the past few decades.
Jo said looking back on old photos to when the business started sometimes seemed like they had been a blink away. Starting in the farm kitchen, then moving to a purpose-built facility in Ballarat, Jo said it was nice to look back but important to keep looking forward.
"For me, being a woman in business was really quite organic...There are lots of women working on farms, detouring into the food industry required a lot of the same skills and you make a lot along the way," Jo said.
"In lots of ways, we were fortunate we entered the industry in a growth period but it's still exciting times in everyone's lives."
Springhill Farm is supply treats to celebrate International Women's Day at the annual Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute fundraiser at Housey Housey on Friday night.
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