"You're not a man at all!": Masculinity, Responsibility and Staying on the Land in Contemporary Ireland

Rural Ireland, and in particular the agricultural sector, is undergoing significant restructuring, within the context of a rapidly urbanising society that has been radically transformed economically and socially in the past ten to twenty years. The decade since the mid-1990s in Ireland has witnessed an economic transformation, the reversal of emigration and unemployment, rapid urbanisation and suburbanisation, and the continued concentration of population in the urbanised East (Central Statistics Office, 2003). The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined and the rural economy has become more diversified (Frawley and O'Meara, 2004). Young farmers are at the centre of these rural restructuring processes, making decisions to become farmers or not in the context of competing pressures. The economic and social landscape of farming is undergoing transformation, in which the viability of farming as an occupation and as a lifestyle in modem Ireland is being reduced. This means that some of the central pillars upon which Irish farm masculinities have been built are under threat, which has implications for the construction of masculine identities. However, at the same time, family farming carries with it certain responsibilities and retains a very strong socio-cultural meaning and importance, bound up closely with masculine identities. These competing pressures are in tension with one another and are lived out through the lives of farmers and their families. They are particularly apparent in the lives of young farmers and farm successors, who are the individuals who are facing or have recently faced, decisions regarding farm succession, inheritance or transfer of holdings, and their own futures

"You're not a man at all!": Masculinity, Responsibility and Staying on the Land in Contemporary Ireland

Rural Ireland, and in particular the agricultural sector, is undergoing significant restructuring, within the context of a rapidly urbanising society that has been radically transformed economically and socially in the past ten to twenty years. The decade since the mid-1990s in Ireland has witnessed an economic transformation, the reversal of emigration and unemployment, rapid urbanisation and suburbanisation, and the continued concentration of population in the urbanised East (Central Statistics Office, 2003). The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined and the rural economy has become more diversified (Frawley and O'Meara, 2004). Young farmers are at the centre of these rural restructuring processes, making decisions to become farmers or not in the context of competing pressures. The economic and social landscape of farming is undergoing transformation, in which the viability of farming as an occupation and as a lifestyle in modem Ireland is being reduced. This means that some of the central pillars upon which Irish farm masculinities have been built are under threat, which has implications for the construction of masculine identities. However, at the same time, family farming carries with it certain responsibilities and retains a very strong socio-cultural meaning and importance, bound up closely with masculine identities. These competing pressures are in tension with one another and are lived out through the lives of farmers and their families. They are particularly apparent in the lives of young farmers and farm successors, who are the individuals who are facing or have recently faced, decisions regarding farm succession, inheritance or transfer of holdings, and their own futures

Mind the gap: gender disparities still to be addressed in UK Higher Education geography

This paper evidences persistent gender inequalities in UK higher education (HE) geography departments. The two key sources of data used are: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for staff and students, which affords a longitudinal response to earlier surveys by McDowell and McDowell and Peake of women in UK university geography departments, and a qualitative survey of the UK HE geography community undertaken in 2010 that sought more roundly to capture respondent reflections on their careers, choices, status and experiences. Findings show that although the gender gap is closing within HE geography in the UK there are significant ongoing gender disparities. Therefore, the paper argues that the long and demanding process of reducing gender inequalities (alongside other, equally vital intersectional inequalities) requires continued commitment. Furthermore, respondents evidence the cost of these inequalities: enablers and barriers to job security and career progression can have long-term impacts on quality of life and financial security, and affect personal life decisions. In recent years the UK-based Athena Swan and Gender Equality Charter Mark agendas have prompted universities to address gendered disparities and the authors note a changing zeitgeist. The survey findings point to the need for sustained leadership within geography departments to address the day-to-day gender – and other – inequalities experienced in the workplace

Exploring masculinities, sexual health and wellbeing across areas of high deprivation in Scotland: the depth of the challenge to improve understandings and practices

Within and across areas of high deprivation, we explored constructions of masculinity in relation to sexual health and wellbeing, in what we believe to be the first UK study to take this approach. Our sample of 116 heterosexual men and women age 18–40 years took part in individual semi-structured interviews (n = 35) and focus group discussions (n = 18), across areas in Scotland. Drawing on a socio-ecological framework, findings revealed experience in places matter, with gender practices rooted in a domestically violent milieu, where localised, socio-cultural influences offered limited opportunities for more egalitarian performances of masculinity. We discuss the depths of the challenge in transforming masculinities in relation to sexual health and wellbeing in such communities

‘Don't show the play at the football ground, nobody will come’: the micro-sociality of co-produced research in an English provincial city

This article examines the idea that community is best understood through the concept of micro-sociality, as a verb, as ongoing social relations in action, rather than a thing to be possessed, lacked or lost. Such an emphasis on already-existing relations has consequences for the conduct of publicly-funded interventions including socially engaged research projects. This article tells a part of the story of one such project in Peterborough, England in the 2010s. If the project was counter-cultural in working with what was already happening in the city, rather than seeking to proselytize a culturally specific view of citizenship and the arts, it also faced its own political choices regarding whose work to accompany and how. Initiated by a group of outsider academics and artists, it involved transformations at varying scales, both fleeting and longer-lasting, often unplanned. The article takes a look at the project’s own microsociality in the choices city residents made to accompany its intentions and practices. Like other people, university researchers and artists are seen to depend on social relations, including the commitment and care of people they work with

The role of emotions in the choice to adopt, or resist, innovations by Irish dairy farmers

In this paper we uncover the emotional factors that contribute to the adoption, or rejection, of different categories of innovation by dairy farmers in Munster, Republic of Ireland. Although emotions have been extensively researched in different fields, little research to date has examined the effects of emotions on farmers' decision making. Munster is the most important region for grass-based dairy farming in Ireland and this type of farming still plays an important role in Ireland's economy and sense of self. By using in-depth interview data from 27 dairy farmers and 6 other participants in the local industry we identified three categories of innovation that were influenced by different emotional pathways. We further uncovered the strong value-driven emotions that underpin the Irish dairy farmers' beliefs about what farming is, and means, and the influence that this has on innovation choices

An uphill struggle? Reflections on research career paths and uneven playing fields

NoFP

"You're not a man at all!": Masculinity, Responsibility and Staying on the Land in Contemporary Ireland

Rural Ireland, and in particular the agricultural sector, is undergoing significant restructuring, within the context of a rapidly urbanising society that has been radically transformed economically and socially in the past ten to twenty years. The decade since the mid-1990s in Ireland has witnessed an economic transformation, the reversal of emigration and unemployment, rapid urbanisation and suburbanisation, and the continued concentration of population in the urbanised East (Central Statistics Office, 2003). The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined and the rural economy has become more diversified (Frawley and O'Meara, 2004). Young farmers are at the centre of these rural restructuring processes, making decisions to become farmers or not in the context of competing pressures. The economic and social landscape of farming is undergoing transformation, in which the viability of farming as an occupation and as a lifestyle in modem Ireland is being reduced. This means that some of the central pillars upon which Irish farm masculinities have been built are under threat, which has implications for the construction of masculine identities. However, at the same time, family farming carries with it certain responsibilities and retains a very strong socio-cultural meaning and importance, bound up closely with masculine identities. These competing pressures are in tension with one another and are lived out through the lives of farmers and their families. They are particularly apparent in the lives of young farmers and farm successors, who are the individuals who are facing or have recently faced, decisions regarding farm succession, inheritance or transfer of holdings, and their own futures

Gender Equality in Higher Education: Segregation, Structures and Stereotypes

NoFP