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Rural Women's Day connects 5,000 across isolated Australia
Jackie Elliott founded a non-profit to tackle the isolation she felt in farming communities, and it has grown to 50 events nationwide.
In brief
Jackie Elliott founded a non-profit to tackle the isolation she felt in farming communities, and it has grown to 50 events nationwide. Jackie Elliott's Rural Women's Day has held fifty events across Australia since two thousand nineteen, connecting over five thousand rural women and helping them build lasting…
Isolation in a farming town
Jackie Elliott moved to Byaduk in Western Victoria at eighteen and struggled to find women her own age in the male-dominated agricultural industry.She assumed she would have to wait until having children to make friends.
“When you're in a male-dominated industry, where most of my colleagues were the same age as my dad, there wasn't exactly an opportunity to connect socially with other women my age.”
Starting Rural Women's Day
After nine years in Byaduk, Elliott founded Rural Women's Day, a non-profit organisation holding social events for women working in agriculture and living in isolated areas.
Rapid growth across Australia
Rural Women's Day has grown from a one-off event to fifty events across mainland Australia, connecting more than five thousand women in rural areas. Each event draws about two hundred women from the local region.
How the events work
When Rural Women's Day visits a region, Elliott tracks down local women to give talks and hosts a dinner for informal chatting and meeting. Events return to each location every couple of years.
Finding best friends
Women attending multiple events have reported meeting their best friends at Rural Women's Day. Some discovered they lived near each other and now do everything together after meeting at the first event.
“This is my third event I'm attending and this is my best friend. We sat next to each other at the first event, didn't know each other beforehand, found out we only lived not far down the road from each other and now we do everything together.”
Mental health and connection
Elliott says women benefit from chatting with like-minded people who face similar struggles. She ensures every event is catered so women are not expected to bring a plate, giving them a day off.
“Men and women need different means and ways of feeling less isolated.”
Elliott's own journey
When Elliott had her first child last year, she no longer felt pressure to use motherhood as a way to meet people.
“Rural Women's Day provided me a purpose, and being a mum is a new purpose. I'm really fortunate that I've been able to find a way to have them at the same time.”
Events across the country
Rural Women's Day events have been held in Rockhampton, Narromine, Young, Nagambie, Moama and Dunkeld this year. The movement continues to expand across rural Australia.
The bottom line
Jackie Elliott's Rural Women's Day has held fifty events across Australia since two thousand nineteen, connecting over five thousand rural women and helping them build lasting friendships.
