‘Land is a huge integral part of our identity’: Patriarchy and the gender asset gap

2024/10/01 by Mary Curtin, Caroline Murphy, Una Woods +1
Social Sciences · #Gender Politics and Representation #Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics #Work-Family Balance Challenges

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/soru.12495

openalex publication_date 2024/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this article is to examine female participation in farming and more specifically, the reasons for the low rate of female farm ownership in Ireland where only 13% of Irish farm owners are female. Females are excluded from the occupation of a farmer because land ownership is the key needed in most instances to being a farmer in one's own right. Females are farming, but too often, they are not owners of the farms they work on. We investigate the structural and cultural factors that alleviate or contribute to the inequality in Irish farm ownership. To address the research question, a qualitative study involving 35 semi‐structured interviews was carried out with both women and men in the Irish farming sector. This research recognises the positive role the state can play, as supported by cultural and institutional theory, by making legal and financial policy changes that can help effect change.

Citations

• Understanding Farm Succession as Socially Constructed Endogenous Cycles
• FEMALE FARMERS IN NORWEGIAN AGRICULTURE From traditional farm women to professional farmers
• Using thematic analysis in psychology
• Limitations of human capital theory
• The Performance of Occupational Closure: The Case of Agriculture and Gender
• Can I use TA? Should I use TA? Should I not use TA? Comparing reflexive thematic analysis and other pattern‐based qualitative analytic approaches
• Theorising Patriarchy
• Is agriculture an occupation or a sector? Gender inequalities in a European context

Related

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• Is agriculture an occupation or a sector? Gender inequalities in a European context
• Fitting in and Multi‐tasking: Dutch Farm Women's Strategies in Rural Entrepreneurship
• Power and culture: Understanding EU policies on agriculture and gender equality
• Gender, Forms of Land Ownership and Agriculture Value Chain Participation: Empirical Insights from Smallholder Farmers in Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria