NOVEMBER 2005

Women Drive Tractors Too

The remarkable and inspiring true life stories of 18 Irish women in agriculture have been told in a new book, 'Women Drive Tractors Too', which was launched recently in ACCBank Headquarters, Dublin, by Deputy Cecilia Keaveney. Among the women featured in the book are Malin Head-based Marie Doherty and Nora Duffy from Crolly.

The book which is written by former Irish Farmers Association Equality Officer, Mary Carroll, makes a unique and forceful statement about the current state of agriculture by allowing the women to talk about the struggles they have faced in making their way in the male dominated world of agriculture. The book retails at €10 and is available through all good book shops and online at www.womendrivetractorstoo.com.

Women Drive Tractors Too', which is sponsored by ACCBank, tells the stories of farming women which as Marie Doherty from Malin Head, who is the youngest person featured in the book and at the age of 19 became the youngest ever County Secretary of the IFA, and Nora Duffy from Crolly, who has run the family sheep farm and is an acknowledged sheep expert. The book details the stories of these and 16 other women's lives and how they have had to battle the odds, overcome major obstacles and show great determination to succeed in farming.

In her foreword to 'Woman Drive Tractors Too'. Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, TD, writes: "The stories that Mary Carroll has so compelling compiled are eloquent testimony to the many roles played by these women, as they make their way through life in a dramatically changing landscape. She has captured the very essence of modern Irish Rural life through the eyes of these energetic and enterprising women."

The author, Mary Carroll, said she had been inspired to write the book by the many outstanding women in agriculture she met during her time with the IFA and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland where she was a Farm Advisor. "Women in agriculture can often be invisible, but I chose these particular 18 role models because they are women who inspire, motivate, engender confidence and promote positivity -not just for me but for everyone with whom they have contact.

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