Grainne looks back on her Nuffield topic which focused on women in agriculture. Have we made real progress on gender diversity in the sector?

Grainne Dwyer is the first female Irish Nuffield Scholar and was awarded her Scholarship in 1999. Nuffield Ireland had only been formed three years earlier and was still being managed from the UK at the time. Following a preliminary interview in Dublin, Grainne was awarded her Scholarship after a final selection in the UK.

My chosen topic was ‘Women; Access to Agriculture’ and for my second interview, I had to convince a board of 12 men that not only was I a suitable candidate but that my topic was valuable, and that Nuffield would benefit from such a study.

The orientation for an Irish Scholar back in 1999 was to attend Wye College in Kent for 3 days where we met our fellow Scholars from the UK. We then travelled to Brussels to meet Irish and UK officials working in the EU Commission and industry representatives. Unfortunately, we did not then have the benefit that more recent Scholars have of participating in the Contemporary Scholars Conference and Global Focus Programme which significantly enhances the Nuffield experience of personal growth and development.

I travelled over 12 weeks from late 1999 to March 2000 and visited Norway, the Netherlands, France, Australia and New Zealand. I aimed to research the contribution women make to agriculture and its business. I also studied how women achieve this level of contribution through education and training and finally I considered the benefits of women’s involvement for the farm business, for farm families and the rural community. At the time I was cautioned against producing a feminist report. I would contend that my report was about positive, motivated, educated people who happen to be women.

In 2000, I presented my findings at the UK Annual Nuffield Conference which was held in Dublin, for the first time outside of England.

Has there been real change for women in agriculture over the intervening years? Are women recognised for their contribution to Irish agriculture? One of the findings in my report was that there should be gender quotas. I struggled with the concept but the evidence from my travels suggested that they were necessary to ensure that women were fairly represented. Is it still relevant today? The current focus on diversity and inclusion has yielded a real drive to include women and others to bring about change towards a fairer and more just society. However, this agenda is not getting through in Irish agriculture regarding women’s involvement, for example in our Co-operative Boards. Women bring a different skill set and are an untapped resource the industry is missing out on. Even within Nuffield Ireland today we have 108 scholars of which only 25 are women. Even in an organisation like Nuffield Ireland, it is a continuous challenge for us to encourage and support women to apply for the scholarship.

For me, a special moment in the history of Nuffield Ireland was in 2005, when I attended the Triennial Conference in France where Ireland successfully won the bid to host the next Triennial Conference on the island of Ireland jointly with Nuffield NI. I was involved in the organisation of the conference which was a major undertaking for the very young and small organisation that was Nuffield Ireland. Nuffield NI and Nuffield Ireland, then respectively chaired by Campbell Tweed and Jim McCarthy, agreed to host it jointly. Our teams worked together to deliver a very successful 10-day programme of farm, historical visits and social events culminating with a one-day conference in Kilkenny.

Today, as Communications Manager with Animal Health Ireland, I am very mindful of ensuring a gender balanced representation in my daily work with farmers and veterinary practitioners. As fundamental changes are being asked of farmers, it is more crucial than ever that those of us working in the agricultural sector would play our part to ensure the inclusion of women in all aspects of the industry. This will be essential to safeguard the growth and development of a mature, more sustainable culture within agriculture.

“To get people to change, you need to tailor your programme to their level of readiness and help them move forward to the next stage. Among any group of people needing to change, only 20% are ready for action; 40% are in contemplation, recognising the need to change but not ready to do anything; and 40% are in precontemplation, not even thinking about change”.
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Read more about Grainne’s Nuffield study topic and download her full report – click here.