Rural Families

Feminist writers have begun to examine the roles of women who live on farms or in rural towns and villages (Wright 1995; Fortmann et al. 1997). They have focused on nonpaid and often undervalued work done by women (housework, gardening, milking cows or goats, raising chickens, corn grinding, food preparation and preservation, laundry work, and garment construction, for example). A new view of the vital contributions rural women are making to family economics has emerged in the last two decades. The invisible farmers have now come to the forefront (Haney and Knowles 1988).

Rural women in Canada have taken a proactive view, organizing themselves to have a voice in addressing issues on their training needs (Rock 1996) and on their economic and social concerns. "In their search for solutions, (rural) women are themselves becoming the leading edge for positive change in rural Canada" (Wolfe-Keddie 1996).

Rural women have also entered the marketplace and are more likely to hold part-time or even full-time jobs that help to stabilize the family economy (Wright 1995). This increase in out-of-home labor by rural women creates problems of inadequate daycare, limited reliable transportation, and need for afterschool programs in rural areas for the children of working mothers.