n By Hajera Blagg
Unite rep Monique Mosley explains why rural life isn’t always easy for women
Unite rep Monique Mosley has lived in many different places throughout her life, including towns, villages and big cities, before settling in the tiny hamlet of Knedlington, East Yorkshire nearly 20 years ago.
Startlingly, it is here in rural Yorkshire that she feels most equal as a woman. “On a daily basis when I look around where I live, I see women and young girls driving huge tractors,” Monique noted. “On farms and rural areas, there’s just so much work to be done, so women have to work with men as a team. There’s also less access to childcare so everyone has to pitch in to make sure the work gets done. Here, women are seen as strong and as equals.”
Monique works for the food manufacturer Greencore in Selby and also supports Unite members on-site as a rep. This year, she is also representing Unite as an International Union of Food Workers (IUF) delegate. But in what little spare time she has, she’s fully embraced countryside life. Among many activities, Monique looks after her neighbour’s cattle, raises her own chickens, and rides horses. She’s also the proud owner of five German shepherds.
“Horse riding especially is very therapeutic,” Monique noted. “The woman who trains me is, like so many women around here, a strong woman. I’ve spoken to her about Tolpuddle and women’s equality – we have pretty hefty discussions; it’s brilliant!”
Monique reports that at the moment, her neighbour’s cattle she looks after have “very cute calves” so “you can’t go anywhere near them right now”, she adds, laughing. In her own garden, there’s a number of badger dens too.
Monique’s love of rural life began when she was a young girl visiting her grandparents living in the countryside in the Netherlands. Her grandfather used to deliver oil to local farmers.
“That’s where my love of horse riding began, and playing in ditches and falling out of trees,” she recounts.
Still, living permanently in a very rural area as an adult was an adjustment for
Monique, and she adds that as idyllic as countryside life can be – “I’d never move back to the city,” she says – there are downsides too.
“Last week there was a power cut, and while now I can look outside and marvel at how incredibly dark it can be in the countryside, at first, it was quite scary. We don’t have any direct neighbours so there’s really nothing out there except wildlife.”
And as much as Monique believes women are seen as equals in the countryside, there are elements of rural living that disproportionately affect women.
“In the last edition of Landworker, there was an article about domestic abuse in rural areas, and it really made me think,” she said. “If you don’t have any neighbours, how would anyone know that someone is being abused? And if you were in an abusive relationship, where would you go? Many services just aren’t accessible.”
She also highlights lack of adequate childcare provision as well as healthcare.
“These issues of course affect everyone, but they hit women the hardest. If I walked into the field and a cow tramples me, I don’t know how long it would take me to get help. The last time I had to go to A&E, I had to drive myself all the way to Scunthorpe – that took over 40 minutes. What ends up happening is people just don’t go to A&E even though they need it. It’s not very conducive to a healthy life.”
Issues with transport can also seriously hamper people’s job prospects, Monique reports.
“I wouldn’t be able to get public transport to work,” she explains. “It would take me over two and a half hours and my employer doesn’t allow flexible working for shift workers like me. One of my colleagues recently quit work because he just couldn’t afford to drive his car to get there. If you can’t afford a car or petrol, your prospects are very limited in a rural area like this. The roads too aren’t great – it can be quite dodgy in winter driving on ice when you have to wake up very early
27 uniteLANDWORKERSummer 2023
to get to work.” Like in so many rural areas, wealthy people looking for a picturesque place to call home have moved in in recent years. Not far from where Monique lives, more than 400 houses are now being built.
“You’d think this would improve access to services, but it hasn’t. On the outside looking in, the general area looks quite affluent, but there is a lot of hidden poverty, especially fuel poverty. We don’t live close enough to a gas line so there’s no central heating as such – it’s all electric which can be very expensive.”
It is this deep understanding of inequality in all spheres of life – in her community, and in her workplace – that motivates Monique to be active in her union Unite.
“Inequality really angers me,” she said. “You see it in how society at large treats women, and also how they treat migrant workers. I think companies across the board are taking the mick right now with their workers, and you see it too with supermarkets needlessly hiking up prices on basic necessities like food just to make more profits.
“When there’s so much deprivation, poverty and inequality, it’s almost as if human life is less valuable. My hope is that people take each other a bit more seriously – that they try to walk a mile in another person’s shoes.”
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These issues hit women the hardest. If I walked into the field and a cow tramples me, I don’t know how long it would take me to get help [as there are no neighbours]. The last time I had to go to A&E, I had to drive myself all the way to Scunthorpe – that took over 40 minutes
Monique Mosley Unite Greencore rep
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