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“They have drafted my friend’s father into the army, he is 60!” These were the first words that my college classmate said when she sat down beside me in our lecture late last week.
Visibly shaken, she spent most of the lecture reading news reports on her computer. Although they were written in her native tongue, or at least a language I could not understand, I knew what the headlines were saying and the images made me very sad.
Every Thursday morning, I post my top three picks from Irish Country Living on our social media channels.
Last Thursday as normal, I recorded and posted my videos but I felt like a fraud when smiling for a video considering what was happening in Ukraine. It was snowing as I travelled to meet my interviewee in Mount Juliet that same morning. The scene was idyllic with children riding ponies across a carpet of white snow and there was abundant wildlife to photograph and a great story for our readers. But it felt a little surreal, selfish even, to be in this amazing estate when another country in Europe was being invaded.
His words, his mental preparation for what could be his final days, will stay in my head forever. My thoughts are with all Ukrainians
On his Countrywide programme last Saturday morning, Damien O’Reilly spoke with his colleague and friend, agricultural journalist Iurii Mykhailov. His words, his mental preparation for what could be his final days, will stay in my head forever. My thoughts are with all Ukrainians.
According to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees, within three days of the invasion of Ukraine nearly 370,000 people had fled. The UN estimates that five million people could become refugees with 18 million displaced due to this conflict. As men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country, most of those fleeing are women, children and the elderly.
In this week’s Investigating Your Food, Janine delves into food security and the role played by women in alleviating food poverty despite the fact that, globally, women suffer from higher levels of food insecurity than men.
International Women’s Day
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) is “break the bias”. Associating or not associating a specific gender with a career is an example of an unconscious bias many of us have.
Engineering is one such profession. In agri careers this week, Janine speaks with a number of engineers about their roles and the STEPS programme which is promoting engineering to children. A first step to breaking our bias is to recognise that we have them – all genders. When we become aware of our biases and watch out for them, they are less likely to influence our decisions.
One way to do this is to question it. When you notice yourself making an assumption ask yourself, is that true? Is it always true? What evidence do I have to support that assumption?
Last year, I listened to a debate about the relevance of IWD. Detractors argued that elevating the role of one gender over another on a specific day is the opposite of equality.
A closing argument summed up for me why IWD is still relevant – white heterosexual men have always enjoyed a position of overwhelming majority so there has never been a need for a men’s rights movement. Every day will be international men’s day until we can get to a place of real equality.
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