A rural survey through women’s eyes

Press, 16 May 1989, Page 12

A rural survey through women’s eyes

By

DEBORAH MCPHERSON

A survey of rural people through the eyes of the women in their communities is being launched in New Zealand this week.

The random survey of 1600 rural women aims to assess the impact of recent social and economic changes on their families and communities.

The year-long survey is being conducted by the Federation of University Women and a social anthropologist at Massey University, Dr Cheleen Mahar, with a grant from the Social Sciences Research Fund. The federation has a wide network, including the Women’s Division of Federated Farmers, the Country Women’s Institute, Women in Agriculture and other rural organisations and individuals.

Dr Mahar said the survey aimed to quantify many of rural people’s concerns about patterns of employment, the urbandrift, the effects of offfarm employment as well

as their feelings of wellbeing. It did not relate just to farming families however, but included rural people living and working in towns of less than 1000 people as well as those in the country, he said. A pilot survey in December and January of 100 women to gauge the interest of the survey had received a positive and enthusiastic response, said a member of the steering

committee of the Federation of Rural Women, Mrs Dorothy Oakley. The pilot survey was not all “doom and gloom,” but even those communities experiencing a recession were positive about the future, she said. In many rural communities the women were leaving their traditional roles as homemakers and seeking paid work in thetown to augment failing incomes.

The results of the pilot survey also showed men taking on a new supportive caring role, where their wives had found work outside the home. Dr Mahar said the survey was the first of its kind to be completed nationally. “We expect the study will also have certain implications for Government policy changes, although just what, we do not know yet.”

In 1975, the University of Canterbury’s sociology department and the Women’s Division of Federation Farmers conducted a sizeable survey, which reflected the security of the agricultural industry in the early to mid 19705. More localised recent studies since 1985, had indicated a change in women’s thinking and a concern for the rural economy. The results of the national survey will be presented at a forum next year organised by the federation and allied groups after it is published in March.