‘Farmers' wives’: women who are off-farm breadwinners and the implications for on-farm gender relations

Abstract

This article examines the fundamental changes that are occurring on farms in Northern Ireland. The income of the agricultural industry shows a dramatic fall every year, and the majority of farms are not viable without some other source of income. This article will demonstrate that it is women's off-farm work that now maintains the farm. The shift to occupying the breadwinner role, and supporting what has been such a traditional industry, allows us to shed an empirical light on the well-established body of research on conjugal relationships, domestic divisions of labour and women's income. Do farm women's increased resources contribute to significant renegotiation of domestic responsibilities and gender role expectations? It will be argued that the literature presumes an individualistic position. Farm households, however, require analysis at the level of the household to explore what off-farm employment by women means for gender role expectations and the division of labour within the farm family.