Encouraging Women in Agricultural Sales: How Can We Support Their Career Paths in Rural Areas?

delphibalda
Hi All,

I'm with an MNC in agricultural sales. I wanted to know about the various initiatives that can be taken to encourage women to apply for sales roles that involve traveling to rural areas. How can we define a career path for them?

Thank you.
priya_pinky
Hi,

If you are sending your executives to rural areas, then incentives, accommodation, traveling, and other monetary benefits may help to encourage them.
tajsateesh
Traveling or Staying in Rural Areas for Women Sales Staff

Would the women sales staff only be traveling to the rural areas, or would they have to stay there? Prima facie, it would be a good idea to involve women in agri-sales, given that much of agricultural work revolves around women.

If It's Only Traveling:

1. The security aspect would be paramount since the transport facilities wouldn't be very good in the rural areas.
2. Another aspect to take care of would be the language slang that's a part of any rural environment, quite different from urban and semi-urban culture, especially in rural areas in West and North India.
3. Timings could be an issue that needs careful consideration since much of the official work time would be spent traveling from village to village unless you devise another mechanism to handle this issue.
4. Incentives and emoluments would need to be made attractive, as Priya mentioned.
5. MIS processes also need careful planning, with more focus on their practicality and implementability. Some companies that are active in such far-flung environments have solid MIS on paper but become tedious for those implementing them, leading to a tendency to skip filing regular reports.

If You Are Expecting Them to Stay in a Rural Environment:

Frankly, I am not so sure if this would be a good idea, given the numerous factors and aspects that require handling, such as accommodation, spouse's job location, schooling for kids, family entertainment facilities, etc., many of which may not be under your control unless you select those who already reside in rural or close-to-rural areas.

Regards,
TS
If you are knowledgeable about any fact, resource or experience related to this topic - please add your views. For articles and copyrighted material please only cite the original source link. Each contribution will make this page a resource useful for everyone. Join To Contribute