Women's Gendered Identities and the Restructuring of Rural Alberta

Research conducted in rural Alberta from 200–2001 captured women's accounts of their lives after restructuring in the health and agriculture sectors during the 1990s. Thirty‐four public health nurses, home care nurses, and farm women from three Alberta health regions were interviewed individually and in focus groups which covered five Alberta health regions. The women reported that restructuring had affected their decisions, their organization of paid and unpaid work, and the quality of their lives. Rural women perceived themselves as caregivers and organizers in their homes and communities. As well, they saw themselves as key figures in the fight to save the farms and the communities in which they lived. While accepting the expectations of rural women, they also expressed frustration and anger over the endless and largely unrecognized, work that resulted. The conflicts between paid and unpaid work, and between the fight to preserve the well‐being of the community and their own well‐being, became particularly clear among the farm women who also worked as nurses. Their sense of themselves as farm women, nurses, and as good community members, led to decisions that in many cases affected their physical and mental health; but they knew that if they did not contribute, they risked losing the way of life they valued. While patriarchal power inherent in social structures has been well documented, we argue theoretical explanations that incorporate the power of agency to place women in situations where they have little choice in the reproduction of their own oppression have not been sufficiently recognized in the literature.