Lithuanian research team meeting Grass Ceiling

Lithuanian study reveals “GRASS CEILING” for women in agriculture: Societal norms, family burdens, and bureaucracy hold back innovation

Why do women often remain on the “margins” of innovation?

The Lithuanian research team of the Grass Ceiling project—T. Baležentis, V. Dabkienė, I. Šikšnelytė-Butkienė, D. Štreimikienė, and V. Šapolaitė—explores this question in their article From glass to grass ceiling: addressing gender barriers in agricultural innovation. 

The article not only highlights the obstacles women face to establish themselves in agricultural innovation but also points at broader systemic shortcomings that impact all agricultural innovators.https://www.ekvi.lt/mokslo-darbuotojas/dalia-streimikiene

Barriers of Social and Domestic Responsibilities
The study reveals that women often bear a disproportionate share of household chores, childcare, and other family obligations. As respondents note:

When you drop out for a few years because you have children, it is a challenge to catch up, because the skills are lost, you have to update your knowledge.
If kids are sick, it is impossible to work.
All the burden of the household falls on the woman, so there is no time to generate new ideas.

Societal Norms
Deeply ingrained perceptions that agricultural innovation is a “men’s field” sometimes do women and make it challenging for them to gain recognition as equal partners or innovators in this area.

Bureaucracy
Another significant obstacle is bureaucracy, which currently poses particular challenges for innovation implementation in Lithuania. Respondents emphasized that bureaucracy should be minimized, and greater flexibility should be introduced into all processes to facilitate breakthroughs in the sector.

Access to Information
The study underscores another critical area for improvement: creating a clear, user-friendly, and targeted information dissemination system. This issue affects not only women but also men—indeed, all agricultural innovators and farmers wishing to participate in various agricultural innovation support programs and initiatives.