Invisible Farmers: the Role of Irish Women in the National Farmers’ Association, Farmers’ Rights Campaign of the 1960s.

Abstract

This article examines the role of Irish farmwomen during the National Farmers’ Association, Farmers’ Rights Campaign, which took place in 1966-67. It shows the “invisible” role that these women played during this campaign. These women illustrate the notion of “love labour”, which seeks to disguise the true value of their contribution by presenting it as an act of love rather than attributing to it the true value of work. It shows how these farmwomen diminish their own role during the campaign as secondary to that of their husbands. This article addresses the importance of having a gender perspective to analyse historical phenomena; the emergence of social movements; and highlights the role of religion in the lives of Irish farming people at that time.