Women farmers step out of the shadows
WOMEN farmers in County Wexford are coming out of the shadows and taking their rightful place in the limelight, thanks to the encouragement of a group called ‘Women Who Farm’ which met for a Christmas lunch in Whitford Hotel – which they didn’t cook themselves!
The group currently has 30 members, many of them older, experienced women farmers involved in various enterprises around the county who are planting a seed which they hope will grow and spread around the country to farming women of all ages.
‘The main aims of Women Who Farm are to end rural isolation by providing a regular social outlet, to provide education and information on issues such as farm inheritance/succession and farm development, and to empower women to recognise their own value and massive contribution to the farming industry,’ said former chairwoman and PRO Ann Stenning of Taghmon. The current chairwoman is Ann Doran.
Ann Stenning is a retired farmer and a midwife who farmed with her husband until he became ill and later ran their large dairy enterprise single-handedly. She is passionate about women taking centre stage in farming with the help of an experienced support and education network.
‘We want women wo come out of the shadows and be seen as farmers in their own right rather than as the wife of a farmer,’ she said.
The group is open to women who are farming on their own and with husbands, partners or sons.
Traditionally, women have been seen as ‘farmers’ wives’ who work on the farm, organise the accounts, rear the children, run the home and cook for the farm employees often without any formal recognition in the form of wages, social welfare contributions or pension payments and after a lifetime of contribution, they can end up with nothing other than an entitlement to remain in the family home after a son takes over.
‘If they don’t have their name on a herd number, they are not seen as being involved,’ said Ann who was often approached by business callers to her farm with ‘Can I talk to the man of the house’ to which she tended to reply: ‘I’m the farmer, you can talk to me.’
Often it’s women themselves who don’t see what they do as an important,’ said Ann. ‘The biggest problem we have is that women don’t have a voice, they don’t see the need for recognition.’
‘But it’s proven that when women participate, productivity is way higher on the farm.’
It was after she retired a few years ago that Ann began looking at the need to bring the issue out into the open and to establish an organisation to help women in much the same way that the IFA supports men. ‘Female participation in the IFA is very low compared to the numbers of women involved in farming,’ she said.
Younger women involved in farming do have more confidence and a greater sense of independence but they too can benefit from the experience and advice of older women in a group such as Women Who Farm, said Ann.
‘Farming changes every time there is a Budget. It’s easy to feel inadequate when faced with all the new regulations involved in farming nowadays on top of all the hard work on a farm and perhaps caring for a family and running a home as well. Younger women may rely on grandparents to mind children but there is another issue here.’
‘A woman can work on a busy farm all her life for little or no recompense and then end up minding the grandchildren when it’s time to retire.’
Anne said there are many dynamic women managing successful farm businesses which trade nationally and internationally and they should be seen as role models for a new breed of Irish women who farm, women who are no longer content to hide their light under a bushel.
To contact Women Who Farm email annstenning123@gmail.com.