The Irish Farmers' Association has launched a new Diversity Strategy in an effort to promote gender equality in the world of farming.
(Source: www.geograph.ie)Making farming fairer - the Irish Farmers' Association is aiming to bring in an 80:20 gender split on all of its National Committees by 2025.
The Association's Diversity Strategy also wants women to make up at least 20 per cent of candidates in future elections.
It's hoped the strategy will lead to more women going for the top jobs within the I.F.A., as since it was founded in 1955, it has never had a female president.
Bernie McCarthy, who is the Chairperson of Westmeath I.F.A. says women are more than capable of running Irish farms:
"It's an opportunity for female farmers to have their voices heard. They're not just going to be tied to the kitchen sink anymore. Most of them are out running farms, they take over family farms [at a] much younger [age]. They have done their Green Certs., a lot of them have done degrees in agriculture and they're quite capable of running a farm, probably even better than some men around the country."
