Member-only story
Around the World with Eighty Women: Máire Áine’s Story (Republic of Ireland)
Farming, faeries, and frustrating stereotypes
*The name Máire Áine is a pseudonym to retain participant confidentiality. To learn about the AW80W project, read the introduction here.
One thing you quickly learn about Máire Áine* is that she can hold her own in most situations. She’s had to since she grew up, and continues to exist, in what could easily be described as a ‘man’s world.’
‘I’ve been a dairy farmer for most of my life and that's a tough industry to exist in as a woman. Men are continually underestimating what I’m capable of.’
Máire Áine explains how, from age ten, she was given the ‘mothering’ side of dairy farming such as milking the cows and nursing the calves: ‘My older brothers would handle the machinery work. I didn’t mind because otherwise I might have been left doing everything. They didn’t want the farming life.’
She does acknowledge a sexist element to this setup, yet still speaks fondly of her early induction into the dairy industry. Now her brothers have moved on from the farm, she does most of the work with the help of her dad: ‘It doesn't make enough to pay the bills, unfortunately, but it’s what I love.’
