Читать книгу Rural Women in Leadership - Lori Ann McVay - Страница 8

In the past two decades, sociological research in the West has witnessed a post-structuralist cultural turn that has opened new avenues of research to gender studies (Little and Panelli, 2003). Work influenced by this turn has not been received without criticism, particularly in the area of practical applicability (Cloke, 1997). However, the cultural turn’s contribution to gender studies is evident in its rejection of any essentialist thinking that would lead towards masking differences between people of a given community (Little and Panelli, 2003). Thus, in order to properly introduce the context within which this study’s participants experience their identities as ‘rural’, ‘women’ and ‘leaders’, this review of relevant literature begins first with a discussion of work from the broader realm of women’s studies, narrowing to a more specific exploration of literature on rural and farm women. This is followed by a discussion of organizations and the constraints within which women operate in many organizational milieus, and an addressing of leadership as a sociological concept, including a discussion of the literature on rural women in leadership. Finally, the study is put into context with a portrait of women from rural areas of Northern Ireland.