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Introduction

In April 2010, the European Forum on Women in the Sustainable Development of the Rural World put forth its recommendation for ‘Promoting gender equality and the participation of women in the decision making bodies of key organizations in the elaboration, management and monitoring of rural development policies’ (European Forum: The Role of Women in Sustainable Development of the Rural Environment, 2010). Five months later, a paper presented to the European Parliament in Brussels further highlighted recent focus on rural women as illustrated by the European Commission’s concern with gender equality in developing the 2000–2006 and 2007–2013 Common Agricultural Policy (Bock, 2010b). This European context, rich with possibilities for the advancement of rural women, provided an ideal milieu for research into their leadership development.

Northern Ireland – with its vibrant rural communities and dynamic network of rural women’s groups – supplied a rich localized site for this study. The six Rural Women’s Networks in Northern Ireland – and an umbrella organization, the Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network (NIRWN) – provided a natural starting point for identifying participants, as their directors and other staff members fit well within the profile of rural women in leadership. And though not all rural women in the region are involved with the Rural Women’s Networks, the networks actively promote the advancement of Northern Ireland’s rural women at local, regional and national levels. This promotion is greatly needed, given the continued presence of gender inequalities and inadequacies in the areas of child-care, transportation, employment opportunities and training (Shortall, 2003; Rural Women’s Networks, Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network, 2007). The networks, along with Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), have called for leadership development in rural areas as a crucial means of addressing these and other pressing issues. This study was therefore undertaken as a means of ascertaining the key factors facilitating the development and acquisition of leadership skills among women leaders from rural areas of Northern Ireland. Two secondary questions guided the research design. First, what people, organizations and/or events supported these women’s development and acquisition of leadership skills? And, secondly, what thought processes and choices did they exercise in order to overcome obstacles in their development as leaders? As a matter of situating the study within current academic dialogue, research began with a review of pertinent literature.

Identifying the Gaps

An examination of sociological literature relevant to the topic of rural women in leadership¹ revealed several points of note. Much valuable sociological research has focused on rural women, particularly in the last fifteen years. Similarly, women’s participation in organizations and leadership has also benefited from sociological research. However, the intersection of those topics – rural women in leadership – has received considerably less academic attention. Further, the studies that do exist focus primarily on obstacles and barriers to rural women’s attainment of leadership positions. Such studies are crucial for their identification of negative factors that must be addressed. Nevertheless, they are also limited in their potential to positively impact the situation of rural women aspiring to, or serving in, leadership positions. For many of these women, this negative focus may contribute to a feeling of frustration. It leaves unanswered the question of how they are to address and overcome negative issues, and leaves unrecognized the existing resources with which to do so. In considering these points, two important gaps in extant literature become quite obvious: a low number of studies focusing on rural women in leadership, and a nearly complete lack of studies identifying and examining positive factors contributing to rural women’s leadership development.

Addressing the Gaps: Conducting Research

This research addressed the gaps identified above in two ways: by providing insight into the developmental processes of rural women leaders; and – most distinctively – through the identification of positive factors beneficial to their leadership development. As noted above, the focus on positive factors provided a means of exploring the contexts in which rural women can – and do – overcome barriers on their journey to leadership. It also served as a tool for the recognition and affirmation of rural women leaders’ powerful role as proactive change agents in their homes, communities and beyond. Interviews loosely structured around participants’ life stories addressed the following areas: personal and community identities, family and community relationships, leadership role models and mentors, education, religion, and leadership experiences within organizations. In addition to inquiries into their personal leadership journeys, the women were also asked what advice they would give rural women aspiring to leadership, and what type of support they would like to see aspiring leaders receive.

Analysis

Analysis was undertaken utilizing the ‘Listening Guide’ as developed by Brown and Gilligan and expanded in the 2003 work: ‘On the Listening Guide: A Voice-Centered Relational Method’ (Gilligan et al., 2003). In order to identify the Key Factors facilitating the development and acquisition of leadership skills among women leaders from rural areas of Northern Ireland, analysis of the women’s narratives incorporated listening for the entire range of positive factors they voiced as significant. Because the ‘Listening Guide’ is a voice-centred relational method, each of the interviews was transcribed in the ‘naturalistic’ mode (Oliver et al., 2005), including verbal starts and stops and vocalized emotional responses such as laughter and sighs.² Gilligan et al.’s method of analysis required multiple ‘listenings’ (2003, p. 159) to the transcripts in order to identify the various ‘contrapuntal’ (Gilligan et al., 2003, p. 164) voices present in individual transcripts and to hear the relationships among those voices through the recognition of their points of harmony and dissonance.

Overview

Chapter 1 offers an in-depth review of literature germane to the current situation of rural women leaders in Northern Ireland. It opens with a discussion of gender identities, relations and roles from the broad perspective of women’s studies, followed by a more narrowly focused discussion on rural women’s experiences of gender identities, relations and roles, with special attention given to the unique position of farm women. The chapter then addresses organizations and organizational constraints to rural women’s attainment of leadership positions. Subsequently, a brief sociological analysis of leadership is presented. This includes an overview of literature on women in leadership, and culminates with literature concerning rural women in leadership.

The methodological and theoretical underpinnings of the research are revealed in Chapter 2, including the details of the research design and profiles of participants. As a qualitative study, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were the primary method of inquiry. Participant observation provided insight into the cultural contexts of the women being interviewed, and the practice of reflexivity acted to highlight the researcher’s voice as it spoke in dialogue with the voices of participants in the interviews and writing up of the findings.

The emergence of findings is rooted in two case studies (Alice and Doreen), presented in Chapter 3. These studies are representative of the full process of analysis. Beginning with Alice and Doreen’s narratives, the presence of the Leader voice was identified in all twenty-two of the transcripts. This allowed for comparison of that voice across transcripts, resulting in the emergence of findings.

Chapter 4 begins with a discussion of External Factors in the participants’ leadership development. This, and subsequent discussions of Internal Factors and Key Factors, provides context for the presentation of each of the factors, which is divided into three major segments: External Factors, Internal Factors and Key Factors. This chapter utilizes an emphasis on the participants’ voices to define, describe and illustrate each of the factors.

The results of this study have significant potential to be applied practically, and to be utilized in the continued development of women leaders from rural areas. It is hoped that this book will be useful in both responding to and generating questions regarding the position of rural women in society and organizations, and that the findings will be of use to the growing body of policy makers concerned with supporting leadership development among rural women. As such, the book concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for further research and policy.