Tag Archives: female farmers

Event: Recognising Women’s Involvement in Farming

Sally Shortall, researching women's involvement on farms

It’s not just in the farming industry where women are making their presence felt with perhaps more determination than ever before, although when I think back to the ‘Votes for Women’ campaign, I don’t think we’ll ever reach their heights. In very recent years though, there has been a tangible change. Between sport (the Irish hockey team were silver medallists in the World Cup today), the MeToo movement, women now playing villain characters in films, it seems women aren’t content [...]

Can Women Calve Cows Too?

RTE Countrywide on Women in Farming

It’s been an interesting week in Irish farming. No, it’s not about Brexit or even beef prices but the topic of women in farming is becoming a hot one – at long last!

Can women calve cows & drive tractors?

Women are great multi-taskers but do they have the skills, strength and know-how to calve cows as well as all the other farming tasks? Well, a man calling RTE’s Liveline the other day doesn’t think so. Women can’t be farmers, although it [...]

Interview with Organic Beef Farmer Maria Phelan

Maria-Phelan-3

12% of Ireland’s registered farmers are female. That means that the percentage of women farming registered with a herd number is 12%. Apparently half of that number are widows which suggest the majority of them are over 60. That translates into 6% of Ireland?s farmers being young and female. However, is this really a true reflection on the facts? I’m afraid I don’t have the time [...]