The caller to RTÉ Radio One's Liveline programme, a farmer's son, caused outcry among female farmers when he said it is "very unrealistic for a woman to run a farm".

"It’s very unrealistic for a woman to run a farm," he told presenter Joe Duffy. "In terms of strength – pulling calves out of cattle or lifting tonnes of beet. There is no beet now, but all that kind of thing – it’s not particularly suitable to women."

His comments, which came off the back of a previous Liveline discussion about women and farm transfers, caused a ripple of outrage among female farmers across the globe when we highlighted them.

Hundreds of women commented on our Facebook post below and numerous comments were left on our Twitter posting.

Comments were left by women from Ireland, the UK, New Zealand, Iceland and the US.

Louise Broughton, a farmer from Limerick, said: "I'm a woman running my dairy farm on my own...no man in sight...doing everything from calving the cows, rearing the calves, putting the cows back in calf doing my own artificial insemination, dosing by catching each individual massive head. I cut my own silage, I bring home my own bales, I spread my own slurry and fertiliser and do my own selling at the mart and that's just the basics. Then there's all the paperwork! So let nobody tell me it's unrealistic for a woman to run a farm coz I've only been at it 10 years but I'm running it quite successfully."

Here in the US women have run farms since the early times of the colonies

Margaret Stewart from New Zealand said that the caller "should move to move to New Zealand and see the number of Kiwi women running and working on farms".

Susan Brooks from the USA said on Twitter: "What? Here in the US women have run farms since the early times of the colonies."

And Gunne Maeja from Iceland said: "I live in Iceland, and I think it is still more common that the men in the family take over the farm when the parents get too old. Nevertheless, I run my family farm (sheep and dairy cows) with my husband, and I would say that we do equal amount of work, even though we each have our separate tasks, and some things require both of us working at once. In farming school, men/boys are still the majority, but the girls seem to be betting more interested. And, they all study the same, and often the girls' grades are even better than the boys."

A dying breed

A few men even waded into the mix, with Gerard Fahy saying that John, the caller, "sounds like a top-end gobshite". Another woman said that John is "a dying breed that will take that opinion with him when he goes".

Annette Nicholas from Cork said she thinks "some people need a wake-up call. Women are running farms for years."

Poll

Our poll on this topic has also been very successful, with 1.7k voters making their view known so far. Have you voted yet? If not, let us know your feelings on this subject below:

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Visibility of women in farming must be increased