Women and Migration in Rural Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Introduction: Women and Migration in Rural Europe — Explanations and Implications

   1. Introduction: Women and Migration in Rural Europe — Explanations and Implications

      • Karin Wiest

      Pages 1-22

3. Gendered Representations and Perceptions of the Rural

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 24-24

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   2. Women Assess Rurality — A Tailored Rural Idyll

      • Mireia Baylina, Maria Dolors Garcia-Ramon, Ana María Porto, Isabel Salamaña, Montserrat Villarino

      Pages 25-43

   3. References to a Rural Idyll in the Attitudes and Self-Perceptions of Women in Rural West Germany

      • Gesine Tuitjer

      Pages 44-63

   4. Rural Milieus in East-Central Europe — Gendered Attitudes to Post-modern Values

      • Éva G. Fekete

      Pages 64-85

   5. Determinants of Individual Quality of Life Ratings in Rural Versus Suburban Regions — A Gender Perspective

      • Nana Zarnekow, Christian H. C. A. Henning

      Pages 86-106

4. Rural Labour Markets for Women — Restrictions and Opportunities

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 108-108

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   2. Gendered Rural Labour Markets and Intent to Migrate — A Case Study in Northwestern Germany

      • Kim Philip Schumacher, Alexander Kunz

      Pages 109-130

   3. Women in Creative Jobs and Living in Rural Areas — A Contradiction?

      • Susanne Schmidt

      Pages 131-149

   4. The Hidden Potential of Female Entrepreneurship in Rural Poland

      • Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska

      Pages 150-169

   5. Business Clusters and Social Cooperatives — A Chance to Promote Female Entrepreneurship in Rural Poland?

      • Boguslaw Bembenek, Teresa Piecuch, Joanna Sudol-Pusz

      Pages 170-186

5. Women’s Living Situations in Rural Areas and Gender-Related Policies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 188-188

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   2. Exploring Female Over-Migration in Rural Spain — Employment, Care Giving and Mobility

      • Luis Camarero, Rosario Sampedro

      Pages 189-208

   3. Decentralised Higher Education Infrastructure in Rural Areas to Impede the Outmigration of Highly Qualified Young Women

      • Verena Peer

      Pages 209-229

   4. Gender Equality in the Regional Development Discourse — Only Rhetoric Modernisation? Austrian Experiences

      • Theresia Oedl-Wieser

      Pages 230-250

6. Back Matter

   Pages 251-257

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Fundamental societal changes in the globalising European countryside impact women's migration decisions. The chapters in this volume represent diverse attempts to explain women's movements from rural areas, taking prevailing labour market conditions as well as gender relations into account. Utilising empirical findings from countries including Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Spain, this collection particularly aims to build bridges between research following the 'cultural turn' and functionalist explanations which refer to material and practiced ruralities.
The international range of contributors to Women and Migration in Rural Europe focus on societal constructions of gender and rurality, and in doing so, address various female perspectives on rural life. The analysis of the different working and living conditions in different parts of rural Europe reveals distinct obstacles but also prospects for young women. Importantly, the book includes policy implications withrespect to the challenges of demographic change, questions of gender equality and women's contribution to rural development.

• Rural development
• gender
• labour markets
• migration
• women
• Europe
• rural idyll
• post-modernity
• quality of life
• gender equality
• female entrepreneurship
• geography
• human geography
• demography
• Poland
• Spain
• Germany
• Austria
• Romania
• Hungary
• area studies

“It is a valuable contribution to current debates on gender and rural migration. … book is an academic writing with solid arguments, and it is easily readable at the same time. Illustrations are also of high quality. The volume contains 16 figures, 13 maps, 14 tables, photographs and interview quotes as well, which are all detailed, accurate and informative. The book is highly recommended to all, especially to scholars and policy-makers in the field of gender, rural and migration issues.” (Szabolcs Fabula, Hungarian Geographical Bulletin, Vol. 65 (3), 2016)

• Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Germany

  Karin Wiest

Karin Wiest is Senior Researcher and Project Manager at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig, Germany. Her research focuses on socio-spatial processes in urban and rural Europe. She has led and participated in several EU-funded research projects focusing on female migration, demographic change and regional development.

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