2025 State of Women in Dairy Report

2025 State of Women in Dairy Report

By Becky Rasdall Vargas, IDFA Senior Vice President of Trade and Workforce Policy

IDFA's second-ever State of Women in Dairy Report provides IDFA members and the dairy industry with new data-based metrics and recommendations to support gender equality across the entire supply chain.

But first, some background:

IDFA's first-ever State of Women in Dairy Report was released in 2024 to benchmark sentiment among women and men working in the dairy industry on six key areas impacting gender equality in the dairy industry: treatment; compensation; mentorship, allyship and support; opportunities for advancement; factors in recruiting and retention; and discrimination policies and gender equality goals.

The report found key strengths for improving gender equality within the industry, such as widespread anti-discrimination policies, access to flexible work schedules, and opportunities for advancement. More than half of female respondents indicated they are aiming for senior roles, with an additional 34% already in leadership positions. However, the survey also revealed significant gender disparities in career advancement, workplace experiences, pay equity, and mentorship. Women reported feeling overlooked, undervalued, underpaid, and that their ambitions may be misrepresented. The report also highlighted a need for stronger mentorship and allyship, as well as cultural shifts to ensure the effectiveness of existing policies and to remove persistent barriers to leadership.

Fast forward to this year's report:

IDFA's 2025 State of Women in Dairy Report focuses on the same six key areas of impact as the 2024 report, but in greater depth. We also made a more concerted effort to reach women and men working in "frontline" work environments-such as processing plants, warehousing facilities, and farms-and those efforts provided us with new insights worth examining and addressing. Finally, our 2025 report takes a deep dive into the experiences, thoughts, and outlook for women in the Generation Z and Millennial generations.

Here's a small sampling of what we found:

• Women Are Taking More Initiative to Lead - More women (54%) reported asking for promotions compared to men (47%), with 62% of those women saying they received those promotions-a rate equal to men.
• Gen Z and Millennial Women Have a Bleaker Outlook for a Future in Dairy: 41% of Gen Z and Millennial female respondents said it will be harder to advance in dairy because of their gender compared to 22% of Gen X and Baby Boomer women, and 21% of men overall.
• "Frontline" Women Are More Likely to Leave Dairy if Faced With Limited Opportunites for Advancement: 29% of female frontline workers have left a job in dairy due to lack of opportunities and promotion and an additional 16% tried to leave without finding other opportunities. Moving forward, 47% of them would consider leaving their job if gender were playing a role in preventing their advancement.

That is just a small sample of what this report offers. We encourage current and future leaders in the dairy industry to review the report, consider the findings, and look for ways to engage with IDFA and your own teams to address challenges and create more opportunities for women in U.S. dairy. This is an important opportunity for collaboration and progress.

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