Time to be Seen: Farm and Rural Women in Irish Media Discourses
DRAOI is delighted to publish the association’s third blog post. It comes from Dr Muireann Prendergast (South East Technological University), a long-time member and contributor to the DRAOI community. Her post introduces her Research Ireland New Foundations project, Time to be Seen: Promoting Gender Balance in Media Discourses on Agriculture and Rural Communities in Ireland, which builds on the work she presented in our 2025 Summer Seminar Series. The project offers an important intervention in media and discourse studies, addressing the persistent invisibility of rural and farming women in Irish media and developing practical strategies to foster more inclusive and gender-balanced communication across the sector.
This year, my project, ‘Time to be seen: Promoting gender balance in media discourses on agriculture and rural communities in Ireland’, received funding under the Research Ireland New Foundations scheme. The study, allocated €8,278.37 and running for twelve months until December 2025, is being developed in partnership with Macra na Feirme, along with Dr Fergal Quinn, Head of School of Journalism, University of Limerick, and Professor Sally Shortall, SETU UK Joint Professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, South East Technological University, Waterford campus.
While almost 40% of Ireland’s women live on farms and in rural communities (CSO 2016), these women are largely excluded from mainstream media discourses due to historical male dominance in agriculture and rural affairs. This project aims to identify how women and men are represented in mainstream media representations of farm and rural issues, and to raise awareness in cases where women are omitted from or misrepresented in this coverage. The study has three parts. First, it involved a discourse analysis of representations of gender in coverage of the topic of farm succession in Irish print media. Second, an Agri-Rural Media Forum was organised for farm and rural women to discuss media representations of key issues and events impacting them with journalists covering these topics. Finally, a focus group was conducted with farm and rural men to gauge their awareness of gender inequalities in media discourses.
The Agri-Rural Media Forum took place in the Strand Hotel in Limerick on 5 June. The goal of this dialogue between women and journalists was to identify concrete examples of problematic representations, to identify strategies for gender-inclusive media discourses, and to foster relationships among participants. Here, the women highlighted that key issues impacting them, such as the gender gap in farm ownership and the inadequacy of maternity leave provisions, are not represented in the mainstream media. They also criticised the perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes associating men with the identity of farmers and entrepreneurs, and women with caring and support roles. The women called for increased representation of older women in media who, despite their invaluable expertise, are especially invisible in media discourses. They also advocated for more positive discourses on farm life overall, showcasing women’s contributions to farm families, communities and economies, for example through regular diary sections in newspapers written by women.
A key output from the project will be the development of media training resources to promote women’s participation in news processes. This toolkit will be accessible via Macra na Feirme’s Skillnet platform. A suite of recommendations for media outlets will also be produced. In conjunction with Macra na Feirme, a gender-balanced media directory will also be created to ensure that women are included as primary definers and agenda setters in media coverage of issues and events relevant to them. Work will also be done towards the development of a bank of stock images on farm and rural life that dismantle gender stereotypes, highlighted by the women and journalists who participated in the project as a necessary resource to promote gender equality in multimodal media discourses.
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