Jo Little

Women and the rural idyll

Abstract The existence of a ‘rural idyll’ has been widely accepted by social scientists working within the rural field. Yet the term itself has received relatively little critical attention. In particular, the variable characteristics and impacts of the rural idyll amongst different groups within the rural population has been largely overlooked. The cultural turn in rural geography and the emphasis which has recently been placed on identifying and studying the rural ‘other’ provides an important opportunity for the notion of a rural idyll to be unpacked from the perspective of different rural dwellers. This paper investigates the role of the rural idyll in maintaining rural gender relations. It examines womens attitudes towards and experiences of two key elements of the rural idyll; the family and the community. Drawing on material from interviews with women in rural Avon in the south west of England, the paper shows how womens identity as ‘rural women’ is closely tied in to their images and understanding of rural society. It is argued, in particular, that the opportunities available and acceptable to women are built on very strong assumptions and expectations about motherhood and belonging within a rural community. Some of the more practical implications of these expectations are explored in the context of womens involvement in the community and in the labour market.

Gender and rural geography : identity, sexuality and power in the countryside

1. Introduction 2. Feminist Theory and Rural Geography 3. Rural Landscape and the Social Construction of Masculinity and Femininity 4. Gender and the Rural Community 5. Gender, Employment and the Rural Labour Market 6. Power, Gender and Rural Governance 7. Gender, Nature and the Rural Environment 8. Rural Social Change and Implications for the Future of Rural Gender Relations

Rural challenge(s): partnership and new rural governance

In this paper we consider issues surrounding the formation of partnerships for the delivery of rural regeneration. Partnership processes are of vital importance because of the central role they play in the emergent culture of governance which is now receiving a great deal of theoretical attention. We argue that the characteristic forms of governance emerged in the urban sphere and have now `spreada to rural area, bringing with them the requirement for rural organisations and actors to form partnerships in order to secure funding and to deliver services. We believe that this relatively uncritical transference of partnership requirements into rural areas fails to take account of the very di!ering socio-economic conditions which may exist in such areas. In a consideration of the Rural Development Commissions Rural Challenge scheme we draw attention to the considerable internal tensions hindering the formation of partnerships in rural areas and the conflicting pressures and constraints surrounding their implementation. We question the culture of partnership and its suitability as a means of securing efective regeneration, arguing for greater scrutiny to be paid to its increased political currency and practical application.

Strategies for coping in capitalist agriculture: an examination of the responses of farm families in British agriculture

Abstract Recent attempts to identify the distinctive characteristics of family relations associated with agricultural production have tended to underestimate the dynamic processes which operate between industrial and finance capital and the farm family located at the point of production. Much of this recent research also tends to underplay the role of internal family processes in bringing about changes or assumes rational forms of behaviour aligned to macro-economic forces. This paper explores some of the relationships which exist in the 1980s between the changing political and economic environment associated with agricultural production and the individual responses and adaptations farm families are making with reference to evidence gathered from the county of Dorset, England. Adaptations in three particular areas (farm occupancy, changes in business organisation, and family labour and continuity) are explored, identifying the ways in which strategies allow for the survival of family farm businesses in an increasingly unstable market and political situation.

Embodied rural geographies: Developing research agendas

This paper responds to the scarcity of work on rural embodiment. We argue that a consideration of ‘the body’ can contribute significantly to an understanding of rural social relations and communities. In particular, this paper provides an additional critical dimension to the understanding of the relationship between changing femininities, masculinities, rurality and the performance of sexuality in rural areas. It shows how dominant constructions of rural masculinity and femininity incorporate highly traditional assumptions about the body and reflect conventional attitudes to sexuality and gender identity. This paper gathers together some partial and underdeveloped ideas and data in the production of a more coordinated and sustained consideration of embodiment and rurality, and details some emerging research directions.

Mapping local foods: evidence from two English regions

Purpose – This paper sets out to engage with current debate over local foods and the emergence of what has been called an alternative food economy and to examine the distribution of local food activity in the South West and West Midlands regions of England.Design/methodology/approach – Databases on local food activity were constructed for each region from secondary sources. The data were mapped by means of choropleth mapping at postcode district level.Findings – Although local food activity is flourishing in the South West and, to a lesser extent, the West Midlands, it is unevenly distributed. Concentrations occur in both regions. These may relate to a variety of factors, including: proximity to urban centres and particular trunk roads, landscape designations and the geography of farming types. The products that tend to predominate – horticulture, dairy, meat and poultry – can either be sold directly to consumers with little or no processing, or remain readily identifiable and defining ingredients after b...

Gender relations in rural areas: the importance of women's domestic role

Abstract This paper argues the value of gender relations to the construction of theoretical perspectives in rural geography. It outlines very briefly recent developments in the study of feminist geography, drawing attention to ongoing debate concerning the nature and importance of patriarchy. In doing so it stresses the need to look beyond the economic significance of womens activities and at the interconnectivity of production and reproduction. The paper then moves on to a discussion of womens domestic role within rural society, looking specifically at the way in which this role, and womens place in the rural community, both reinforces and is reinforced by aspects of the dominant rural ideology. The conclusions reached suggest that the characteristics of rural areas, particularly their size, remoteness and lack of resources, together with the strength and orientation of the rural ideology, have a unique influence on both gender role and gender relations.

Constructions of Rural Women's Voluntary Work

ABSTRACT This article examines the nature and circumstances of womens voluntary work in rural communities. Drawing on original research conducted in two villages in Avon, England, it focuses on three main themes. Firstly, it considers theoretical debates on the conceptualisation of rural womens labour, arguing that traditional divisions between public and private forms of work provide an inadequate basis for understanding either womens labour participation or their domestic lives. The notion of voluntary work as a third sphere is discussed as it relates specifically to the rural labour market and community. Secondly, the article examines voluntary work in terms of the empowerment of women. It addresses issues of womens role and status in the rural community, questioning whether the states use or reliance on voluntary work in rural areas represents an exploitation of womens position or an opportunity for women to gain influence and power. Thirdly the article evaluates the contribution of womens volu...

Amongst Women: Exploring the Reality of Rural Childcare

In this paper we examine the provision and use of rural childcare, drawing on original data collected as part of a study of formal and informal childcare services in the County of Devon in England. The paper goes beyond existing discussions of childcare in rural areas in attempting to place patterns of use in the broader context of household gender relations and the cultural construction of rurality. We argue that decisions around child care by rural families need to be considered in relation not only to the availability of different sorts of service but also to the employment aspirations and choices of men and women and the assumptions of the primacy of women’s mothering role. Such issues are underpinned, we contest, by idyllic constructions of rural family life and social relations.

A Community Issue? Rural Women's Feelings of Safety and Fear in New Zealand

Following previous geographies of gender and fear this article is stimulated by the dominance of urban accounts of womens experience of safety and fear in different ‘private’ and ‘public’ spaces1. We argue that rural and emotional geography perspectives on these issues provide new directions for both a feminist critique of the notion of ‘rural community’ and broadening of the emotional geographies literature. Communities have been studied at length in rural geography, yet the term itself can be problematic and its emotional potency has not been rigorously interrogated. Differing experiences of the rural community in relation to characteristics of, for example, class, gender, sexuality, age and ethnicity have led to a questioning of idyllic assumptions attached to rural life and the construction of ideas about the rural community. In this article we extend existing debates to argue that constructions of the rural community as an emotionally harmonious, safe and peaceful space may be challenged by womens experiences of fear in various rural spaces. We take the specific case of two contrasting Aotearoa/New Zealand communities and document how women negotiate personal feelings of safety and fear in their own areas. We highlight the absence of a binary of fear/safety, noting that women often live with and through these emotions in more complex ways. Finally, we close by placing this discussion within broader reflections on community as an emotionally charged term and as a rhetorical space of concern and/or responsibility in agency discourse and crime management.