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Sheena HanrahanWomen’s Off Farm Employment: an analysis of official and women’s discourses: 

Sheena Hanrahan Women’s Off Farm Employment: an analysis of official and women’s discourses Supervisors: David Meredith (Teagasc) Orla O’Donovan (UCC) Please contact author before quoting material sheenah@eircom.net © Sheena Hanrahan 2006

Background: 

Background Changes in Farming Women’s increased participation in the workforce Agricultural Discourses – references to ‘farm families’, ‘farmwomen’, ‘farmer’s wives’ etc Research carried out by Patricia O’Hara (1998)

O’Hara’s research found farming to be predominantly patriarchal – women are subordinate to men in relation to property and the public face of farming. The way they deal with this has implications for the future of family farming: 

O’Hara’s research found farming to be predominantly patriarchal – women are subordinate to men in relation to property and the public face of farming. The way they deal with this has implications for the future of family farming

Paid Employment: 

Paid Employment Gave women a much greater ability to challenge male domination in the relationship Earnings critical to farm viability BUT women’s absence from the farm reinforces men’s control on family assets Also allows men to build up capital assets reinforcing patriarchal property relations

Dairy Farming: 

Dairy Farming I chose to look at dairy farming as it is more common for spouse to work off-farm in all but the smallest farms (Nat. Farm Survey, 2004). Predictions in various policy documents suggested need for up-scaling for farm to stay/become viable Increased emphasis on off-farm earnings as a factor in household viability

Two Key Areas of Interest: 

Two Key Areas of Interest What was being said in official agricultural discourses and how were women implicated in this What did women themselves think about their situation.

Women’s Discourses: 

Women’s Discourses Finding the women! Developed Questionnaire – sent out to 450 women. 153 returned. 95 Women volunteered to take part in a one to one in depth interview. Interview was semi structured – informed by the questionnaire responses.

Slide12: 

Count

% of Women’s Earnings Contributed to Household and Farm Ownership : 

% of Women’s Earnings Contributed to Household and Farm Ownership

% Women’s Earning Contributed to Household and Farm Ownership: 

% Women’s Earning Contributed to Household and Farm Ownership

Summary: 

Summary The web of local context, personal experience, gender relations and women’s sense of self raises questions about the meaning of ‘catchall’ terms like ‘farm family’, ‘farm women’ etc. Women’s own discourses both resist and embrace official discourses which tend to portray the ‘farm family’ as a consensual unit. Women resist by asserting their own occupations to highlight their ‘separateness’ from the farm. Their lives and their ability to assert their ‘separateness’ is severely curtailed by the time and financial demands of the farm and the ‘content’ of the constructed identities they ‘choose’ to occupy. There appears to be little renegotiation of the traditional gender division of labour and not only do women retain this workload but the responsibility of financing household needs too. Women’s satisfaction with their ‘farm life’ appears to affect their view on farm investment and succession – and is thereby implicated in the future of the farm