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Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Dedication -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- Geography, rurality and change -- Confronting gender in rural geography -- The chapters -- 2. Feminist theory and rural geography -- Introduction -- Feminist geography: early development -- Early feminist geography and the rural -- Feminist geographies and gender identity -- Gender identity and rural geography -- Conclusion -- 3. Gender, nature and the rural landscape -- Introduction -- Gender, rurality and the social construction of nature -- Masculinity and the control of nature -- Women, nature and the rural environment -- Conclusion -- 4. Gender and the rural community -- Introduction -- The community in rural geography -- Rural community studies and the recognition of gender difference -- Gender and the cultural construction of the rural community -- Gender, community and village institutions -- The gendered nature of community spaces -- Conclusion -- 5. Gender, employment and the rural labour market -- Introduction -- The rural labour market -- Rural women's employment -- Women's employment and the rural household -- Women's employment and policy -- Conclusion -- 6. Power, gender and rural governance -- Introduction -- Gender and the rural state -- New rural governance and gender relations -- Rural regeneration, Rural Challenge and new rural governance -- Gender and Rural Challenge -- Gender, politics and the rural community -- Conclusion -- 7. Gender, sexuality and rurality -- Introduction -- Rurality and representations of sexuality -- Homosexual lifestyles in the countryside -- Conclusion -- 8. Conclusion -- The continuing relevance of gender in researching the rural landscape and society? -- Gender identity and research methodology -- Further research -- Bibliography.

AbstractHistorical studies of rural recreation and wellbeing have drawn attention to the role of nature and the countryside in the development of ideas surrounding notions of fitness as a moral responsibility. This article builds on some of this work in an examination of transformational tourism and the ways in which nature, and in particular wild nature, is drawn into more contemporary concerns about health, wellbeing and the body. Using the work of Foucault, the article explores how wild nature (as a location and a set of practices) becomes part of a strategy employed by the individual to discipline the body in terms of ideas about size, shape and fitness and to inform broader lifestyle and therapeutic practices in the 'care of the self'.

This paper examines the relationship between rurality and heterosexuality. It argues that in discussing the spatialisation of sexual identity in rural areas, previous research has concentrated either on homosexuality or masculinity in isolation. As is common in research generally, little attention has been given to the construction and performance of heterosexuality. Using two case study examples, one from the UK and one from New Zealand, the paper examines the centrality of conventional notions of heterosexuality to rural (and particularly farming) relationships. It suggests that ideas about the suitability of partners and spouses conform to highly traditional notions of heterosexuality. This particularly evident in the context of farming masculinities and the relationship between 'natural' masculinity and acceptable femininity. Ideas about the farmer's wife are shown to incorporate highly conventional assumptions not only about gender role but also feminine sexuality.

AbstractThis article examines the relationship between the sexuality and understandings of nature. Employing a case of 'romance' in 'outback' Australia, we dissolve the boundaries between 'nature' and 'society' to show some of the varied ways in which the construction and performance of heterosexuality is shaped by (and is integral to) dominant ways of knowing nature. In practical terms, we draw on a reality TV series in which single men in 'outback' Australia ('bush bachelors') advertise for potential partners ('sheilas') from the UK. The series charts the development of the relationships as they are played out in remote parts of Western Australia. In this article we critically read the series and draw out three key themes characterising the relationality of nature and heterosexuality. Initially, we look at how nature frames the expectation and reality of sexual relationships in the 'outback', particularly in terms of its power and hostility. We then explore the centrality of nature to constructions of 'outback' masculinity and the way such constructions dominate the heterosexual relationships that develop between the couples. Finally, we show how a further dynamic of the nature/sexuality relationship involves the expectation of a particular kind of femininity as appropriate to the physical, social and cultural nature of the 'outback'.

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.

Abstract This paper explores the operation of gender relations in the context of rural policy. Framed by debates on new rural governance, it considers how both the content and the culture of recent rural regeneration policy reflect highly masculine values and the maintenance of traditional power relations. New forms of decision making in rural areas promote a style of policy making that values and grants priority to male networks in the construction of elite groups and styles of management, and devalues community participation. We use examples from the United Kingdom to demonstrate the implications of shifts in the mechanisms and practice of policy making and implementation for men's and women's differential involvement and experience with rural regeneration. We go on to show how gender relations are also reflected in the content of contemporary rural regeneration policy. Decisions concerning the most appropriate types of initiative are predicated on a male‐oriented view of previous economic activity and local labor markets, and represent a highly masculinist approach to regeneration.

Studies of rural planning have only recently begun to focus on concepts of policy‐making and implementation which have been developed in urban and regional contexts. Although recognizing the need for inter‐organizational frameworks, this paper investigates one particular factor in policy‐making – officer‐member relations – as illustrated in the structure plan‐making process of Gloucestershire County Council. Through a partnership between senior officers who were able to orchestrate decision‐making, and elite members who provided political support for technical policy justifications, a form of directed policy consensus was reached. The consensus in this particular structure plan was marked by the prominence of a political‐bureaucratic goal to provide policy‐responses to rural problems. This theme was diluted, however, when the plan moved from the local to the central arena of power.