OK, bear with me because I know this is controversial and I know that domestic abuse is not always male to female, however.........

Even now in 2020 the family farm is usually handed down from father to son.  This practice has ensure that farms are owned and controlled by men.  Women’s access to property is weak.  However, if they are widowed they will usually gain rights to the property in which they live.  Even now a woman’s most common entry into the world of farming is by becoming a farmer’s wife and although we do live in the 21st century, the vast majority of farming is dominated by masculine culture. 

The man is the head of the family, the farm’s public face - he is the one who goes to market, he is one who battles nature everyday as part of his work on the farm.  Farming is currently under huge pressure, especially recently with the ‘are we, aren’t we?’ of Brexit hanging over us.   

The recent relaxation of food standards mean that Britain will be able to import chlorine washed chicken from the United States, which will be cheaper than the quality food our British farmers produce.  Our farmers cannot compete with the low prices of imported food.  The price of milk is so low it won’t be long before farmers are having to pay to get the milk taken away.  Social media channels are full of abuse aimed at our hard-working farmers.  If they were any other minority group surely it would not be tolerated.   

With all this pressure on their livelihoods there is little wonder that suicide rates in the farming community have skyrocketed.  And whilst there is no excuse for domestic abuse, none whatsoever, we do know that this powerlessness and especially the emasculation of men can add to the frequency of domestic abuse. 

Thanks for reading, 

Emily

 

Kindly funded by Derbyshire's Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner