Читать книгу Rural Women in Leadership - Lori Ann McVay - Страница 16

It has been well established that women have a difficult time attaining positions of leadership in male-dominated organizations. Recently, this has been corroborated by a report from the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Policy Web, which identified traditional attitudes about gender roles as a barrier to women’s employment in rural areas (Shortall, 2006). Other frequently cited barriers are lack of accessible childcare and transportation, and the unavailability of stimulating and rewarding occupational choices – all of which work together to inhibit women’s pursuit of careers and higher-level positions in organizations (Little and Austin, 1996). Once women are formally recognized as leaders in such organizations, the masculinized nature of the organization in which they are involved is unlikely to change, since the overwhelming majority of others involved are men (Shortall, 2001). Nearly every piece of literature on women in leadership addresses not only the obstacles women face in reaching positions of leadership, but also the many challenges they face during the time of their leadership (Appelbaum et al., 2003; Greenberg and Sweeney, 2005; Trinidad and Normore, 2005).

For farming women, these difficulties frequently have their roots in the method of entry into farming, which most often comes through marriage and can dictate the extent to which they are able to be involved in decision-making bodies and practices (Shortall, 2002; Alston, 2003). Farming associations are facing increasing pressure as all-male organizations become less socially acceptable, but the positions to which women are given access are predominantly on subcommittees (Shortall, 1999). One particularly relevant example of this limitation in acceptable decision-making roles comes from Northern Ireland’s Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU). It was not until 1996 that the UFU (founded in 1918) appointed a woman to their eighty-member executive committee. Interestingly, of the twenty-eight members of the UFU’s Farm Family Committee, also established in 1996, twenty-three of the twenty-eight members were women (Shortall, 2001). Alston (2003) points out that, while groups such as agricultural boards often claim that appointment is based on merit, women are still routinely excluded from appointments, even when their education levels are higher than other candidates. Such exclusionary practices form what she has termed ‘the grass ceiling’ (Alston, 2003, p. 479). Other examples identified by Alston include: communities with ‘particular views’ of women, unlimited terms of leadership, unclear selection criteria and processes, the ‘old boys’ network’ and a lack of commitment to gender equity (Alston, 2003, p. 479).

Pini (2003b) also touches on this subject when writing of the reluctance of mostly male agricultural organizations to elect women – even when their experience and qualification are recognized by the voters. Alternatively, one venue in which women have been able to participate more fully is in women’s farming organizations. However, as noted by Shortall (1999), these organizations are labelled by gender (women’s organizations as opposed to farming organizations), and the issues they wish to address are often kept to the periphery of male-dominated farming organizations’ agendas. In Northern Ireland this is also true of rural women’s networks, which, in spite of having a vibrant presence and role in rural communities, have met with continuous difficulties in obtaining long-term funding (Macaulay and Laverty, 2007). It is at this point that our review of literature brings us to the focal area of this study – rural women in leadership.