A time for change? Patriarchy, the former coalfields and family farming

Abstract

This paper explores the consequences of economic restructuring for patriarchal gender relations in the former coalfields of North Nottinghamshire and family farming in the Northern Fells of Cumbria. With pit closures, the declining contribution of agricultural income to rural economies and an increase in the number of women entering the workforce, this paper examines why women are neither revelling in their new roles nor experiencing the erosion of patriarchal structures that affect gender relations. Using Sylvia Walby's (1990, 1997) model of patriarchy, this paper attempts to explain women's changing and new experiences of gender relations. It also explores explanations for the resilience of patriarchal structures. © European Society for Rural Sociology.