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.

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)

Autorentext
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.

Inhalt

1. Women and Migration in Rural Europe: Explanations and Implications; Karin Wiest

PART I: GENDERED REPRESENTATIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE RURAL
2. Women Assess Rurality: A Tailored Rural Idyll; Mireia Baylina, Maria Dolors Garcia-Ramon, Ana María Porto, Isabel Salamaña and Montserrat Villarino
3. References to a Rural Idyll in the Attitudes and Self-perceptions of Women in Rural West Germany; Gesine Tuitjer
4. Rural Milieus in East-Central Europe Gendered Attitudes to Postmodern Values; Eva G.Fekete
5. Determinants of Individual Quality of Life Ratings in Rural Versus Suburban Regions A Gender Perspective; Nana Zarnekow and Christian Henning

PART II: RURAL LABOUR MARKETS FOR WOMEN: RESTRICTIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES
6. Gendered Rural Labour Markets and the Intent to Migrate A Case Study in North-Western Germany; Kim Philip Schumacher and Alexander Kunz
7. Women in Creative Jobs and Living in Rural Areas A Contradiction?; Susanne Schmidt
8. The Hidden Potential of Female Entrepreneurship in Rural Poland; Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska
9. Business Clusters and Social Cooperatives A Chance to Promote Female Entrepreneurship in Rural Poland?; Bogus?aw Bembenek, Teresa Piecuch and Joanna Sudo?-Pusz

PART III: WOMEN'S LIVING SITUATIONS IN RURAL AREAS AND GENDER-RELATED POLICIES
10. Exploring Female Over-Migration in Rural Spain: Employment, Care Giving and Mobility; Luis Camarero and Rosario Sampedro
11. Decentralised Higher Education Infrastructure in Rural Areas to Impede the Outmigration of Highly Qualified Young Women; Verena Peer
12. Gender Equality in the Regional Develpoment Discourse Only Rhetoric Modernisation? Austrian Experiences; Theresia Oedl-Wieser