What role does rural place play in the lives of mid-life women in Sweden and Ireland?
View/ Open
Date
2020-11-06Author
Herbert, Alison
Metadata
Show full item recordUsage
This item's downloads: 88 (view details)
Recommended Citation
Herbert, Alison. (2020). What role does rural place play in the lives of mid-life women in Sweden and Ireland? Societies, 10(4), 84. doi:10.3390/soc10040084
Published Version
Abstract
Rural place is a significant influencer of the ageing and states of well-being experienced
by older women. This paper extends existing knowledge on gendered rural place by examining
its influence on mid-life (45–65 years) women in rural Sweden and rural Ireland. This paper also
examines rural place identity, self-identity and the enhancement of the self, and the multiple pathways
to place attachment at mid-life. Qualitative data were gathered in 2019 from ten women living
in Sweden’s rural Värmland region, and in 2012–2013 from 25 women living in Ireland’s rural
Connemara region. Adopting a social constructionist approach within a lifecourse framework,
methodology was informed by constructivist grounded theory, using one-to-one semi-structured
interviews. These distinct studies show both similarity and difference in rural place identity and
self-identity among mid-life women, and highlight nuances around place attachment, the home,
social relationships, and the natural environment. The data show a compelling need for a greater
consideration of the critical and diverse role rural place plays in shaping women’s experiences of
ageing and well-being both at mid-life and in older age.