Post Doctoral Researcher, Geography

Department : Geography
Vacancy ID : 020382
Closing Date : 19-Mar-2023

Maynooth University is committed to a strategy in which the primary University goals of excellent research and scholarship and outstanding education are interlinked and equally valued.  

We are seeking a Post-Doctoral Researcher to work on a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) funded project (HER-SELF: Highlighting pathways to Empower Rural women to have Sustainable and Equitable Livelihoods in Farming).  

Irish data from the Census of Agriculture 2020 highlights that women are underrepresented as farm holders, farm workers and that there are many undocumented women working in the agricultural sector.  These women make valuable contributions every day to family farms but remain, essentially, ‘invisible’. In addition, boards of management and stakeholder groups across agricultural industries throughout Ireland show poor representation of gender equality.  Lack of female representation in the industry creates a dated stereotype of the agricultural workforce in Ireland and gives little guidance to young and upcoming women in agriculture paving career pathways for themselves. In order to track and surpass gender equality commitments at EU and national level, the visibility, equality and status of women in agriculture is crucial to the successful creation, implementation and evaluation of future strategies. This research will establish a position on women in farming and the agriculture sector, providing evidence for future policy interventions to enhance the role of women in the sector in the future.  

The HER-SELF project incorporates quantitative and qualitative elements, examining influencing factors for the involvement of current and prospective female farmers/farm workers in the agriculture sector in Ireland with respect to their visibility, equality, status and experiences in the sector. The objective of this research is to establish a baseline position on women in farming and the agriculture sector, providing evidence for future policy interventions to enhance the role of women in the sector going forward. It will achieve this by providing insights into the lives of women farmers and workers in the agricultural sector of all ages. A gendered focus will be used to analyse existing data on farm income, farm payments and capital investment in farms. The project will identify barriers and enabling factors throughout their career paths taken by women who train in the agricultural sector and the reasons for these choices. It will further identify any geographical differences by region or county in the participation levels, incomes and experiences of women involved in agriculture. By reviewing existing datasets (eg, Census of Agriculture 2020, National Farm Survey) and augmenting these with the voice of women in agriculture through interviews and multi-actor focus groups, this project will give future guidance for policy reform and implementation in the agri-industry across all agri-sectors, prioritising inclusivity and gender equality for all women going forward.  

The project is a collaboration between MTU (lead), Maynooth University and Teagasc. The successful candidate will play a critical role in leading the desk based research for this project and contributing to the analysis of focus group data. The project will also be undertaken by principal investigator (Dr Martina Roche), co-ordinator (Dr Mary Anne Hurley, MTU) and research partner Dr Áine Macken-Walsh (Teagasc).  

Salary  

Post-Doctoral Researcher (2022): €41, 209 p.a. pro-rata (Point 1)  

Appointments will be made in accordance with public sector pay provisions.