26 September 2023

Out of the saddle: Cattlemen’s CEO musters strength in adversity

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Neda Vanovac says the former CEO of the NT Cattlemen’s Association believes women often have to work three times harder than a man to be heard and taken seriously.


By Neda Vanovac*

It was when a Northern Territory Minister began referring to her as “little girly” during a policy discussion that now-former NT Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA) CEO Tracey Hayes (pictured) knew she was in for a fight.

Ms Hayes told an International Women’s Day event in Darwin last month that she went to meet the then-Minister at his office to discuss the NTCA’s position on fracking and its impacts on landholders.

“We discussed a range of matters and issues increasingly in a robust manner; I knew once the Minister started referring to me as ‘little girly’ that I was up against an appalling culture and my job was about to get much harder,” Ms Hayes said.

“Unfortunately, the Minister had resorted to a well-used tactic to undermine, dismiss and discredit the professional female before him, a classic misuse of power and something that occurs every day at all levels.”

Ms Hayes said that leadership was not about power or authority, but about empowerment and respect.

As the first female CEO of the NTCA, she said women sometimes had to work three times harder than a man would have to be heard and taken seriously.

Cajoling and pestering to swag with the blokes

The youngest of three children and her parents’ only daughter, Ms Hayes struggled while growing up on an outback property in South Australia in the 1970s to be taken as seriously as her brothers.

“My childhood was spent carefree and running wild on a cattle station in an era where the industry was dominated by men with old-school ideas and principles, and conversely strong women who spent more time willingly focused on domestic duties, home-schooling the kids, and making sure the stores and rations were always up to date,” she said.

“My favourite thing in the whole world was being allowed to visit the stock camp, saddle up my pony and getting stuck into it, just like the blokes.”

“It drove me crazy that I was limited to the occasional day visits with Mum as she drove out with a special treat, a batch of home-made pies or fresh fruit.”

“I was not interested in that one bit, and wanted to be where the real action was: be the horse tailer, the one that got up before dawn and rounded up the plant of horses directed only by the melodic sound of the bells around their necks, or be the one in the middle of the mob with the gun horse drafting cattle and calling the shots.”

She said it took years of “cajoling, pestering and working my butt off to earn my place” and finally be able to roll her swag with the blokes.

But she said the experience taught her persistence, resilience and mental toughness which set her up for a future career.

No strangers to tragedy

Ms Hayes has four sons, aged 12 to 23, and the family are no strangers to tragedy, having lost their grandfather in a motorbike mustering accident in 2011, and her ex-husband and children’s father, Billy Hayes in a plane crash while mustering cattle in 2016.

In January, her sons witnessed the death of their friend and Finke Desert Race champion motorcycle rider Daymon Stokie when he was killed in a motocross accident on their old family property of Deep Well.

“As my eldest son and I [along with others] lay in the 70-degree red desert sand trying our very best to revive his best mate, ridiculously it occurred to me that honing of leadership skills can manifest itself in a number of ways,” Ms Hayes said.

“How on Earth were we going to get through this?”

“How can it be that we are back on the grief bus again so soon, and what does it all mean?

“One thing I knew for sure: I would be relying on that resilience I had learnt all those years ago as a little girl, and I couldn’t stop wondering if I had done enough to try and instil those traits in my own children for they were also being called upon to dig deep again and again.”

Billion-dollar NT cattle industry run by women

Ms Hayes said one of the things she was proudest of during her time heading the NTCA was working with women.

“It is incredibly satisfying to play a small part in assisting young women to build their confidence and skills to go out and own their space in the world,” she said.

“In my final year at the NTCA our core employee group was 80 per cent women … the Cattlemen’s Association in charge of a billion-dollar industry was being run almost entirely by women.”

Due to the prominence of the #metoo movement, she said sexual misconduct, harassment and assault were finally being flushed out of the corners of all industries.

“It is far more difficult for women and it is an unfortunate reality that women are watched and judged constantly: what you do, what you look like, how you react, the tone of your voice, the language of your body, your empathy, your knowledge, your loyalty, your passion,” Ms Hayes said.

“It is not acceptable that these are often used as cues or signals excusing inappropriate behaviour.”

However, she also warned women against using their “femme fatale” wiles to get ahead at work.

“I believe it would have to be the quickest way to destruction, derision, oblivion and irrelevance,” she said.

“Don’t ever use it.”

“If we are to have half a chance of tackling the scourge of sexual harassment, we must play with a straight bat, support each other, and encourage men to help us champion a culture of change.”

* Neda Vanovac is a journalist and digital producer at ABC Darwin. She tweets at @nedavanovac.

This article first appeared at www.abc.net.au/.

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