Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Diana Armstrong MLA has questioned what progress has been made in addressing barriers facing women in agriculture, more than four years after an Assembly report highlighted the challenges they face.
Marking International Day of Rural Women, the Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA called on the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) to outline what action it has taken following the publication of the Breaking the Grass Ceiling report.
Mrs. Armstrong said women played a vital role in farming and rural communities but their contributions often went unrecognised, particularly on family farms.
“There are nearly 52,000 people working on farms in Northern Ireland. Four out of five of them are down as the farmer, a partner or a spouse,” she said.
“Now think about what that word spouse is covering. It is the woman who reared the calves, who does the books at the kitchen table, who takes the call from the vet, who has the dinner on for whoever is in the yard.
“None of that puts her down as a farmer. Most of it is not paid either.”
The Breaking the Grass Ceiling report found that women accounted for 22% of the agricultural workforce but only 5% of principal farmers.
It also found that the number of women farmers fell by 15% between 2006 and 2019, while women made up just 4% of participants in Business Development Groups.
Seven in 10 women who responded to the report identified the culture of the industry as a challenge, while two-thirds also held down employment outside the farm.
Mrs. Armstrong said nearly 180 women had contributed to the report by sharing their experiences, but questioned what had changed since its findings were published.
“Nearly 180 women took the time to set out what their working lives were actually like. That was four years ago. What I want to know today is what DAERA has done with it,” she said.
“What has the Department put in place since? What has changed for the woman on a farm in rural Northern Ireland?”
She added that if little progress had been made, the Department should acknowledge this and take action to address the issues identified.
Mrs. Armstrong also raised concerns about women's financial security and legal rights on family farms, where land, livestock and businesses may be registered in someone else's name.
She said women could spend decades working on a farm without having a formal stake in the business, leaving them vulnerable if a marriage or partnership ended or a dispute arose over succession.
“A woman can give 40 years to a farm and have no security in it at all,” she said.
“If a marriage ends, or a partnership breaks down, or there is a dispute over succession, she can find she has nothing to show for a lifetime’s work. It is rarely talked about and it needs to be.”
The MLA also highlighted wider challenges affecting rural women, including limited public transport, the cost and availability of childcare and difficulties accessing essential services.
She called for greater recognition of women's contributions to family farms, support for those without a legal stake in the businesses they help build, and improved access to services in rural areas.
“Stop designing services on the assumption that everyone lives within reach of a bus route,” she said.
“Rural women hold our communities together. In farming, in business, in schools and surgeries, in churches and clubs, they are the people who keep things going.
“The least they are owed is to be counted.”
Share