Exploring Rural Development: Women in Rural Economies
Posted on | May 18, 2010 | 1 Comment
I’m getting by this spring with a little help from my friends … including my pan-west colleague, Evelyn Clark, Senior Project Manager with Community Futures BC. Evelyn has extensive experience of both the theory and practice of leadership … read on for the fourth installment of The Fringe’s limited online series exploring rural/rurban development – from a women’s perspective.
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Women in Rural Economies
By Evelyn Clark
“This is a picture of the Sentinel. It is a cedar tree that means a lot to me. This is the only community that would build a road around a tree. 
If it’s there, we work around it. It is a force – a being.”
Sitting in a circle around a cluster of photographs are six women. Sharon is in the middle of her presentation. What began as a tentative, almost shy presentation has turned into a gentle, evocative learning experience for each of the participants.
How did I find myself here? I am in the middle of a study of how rural women’s lives are impacted by economic change and what they each are doing about those changes.
What began as a potential exploration of how women positively impact rural economies through volunteerism, has become a study of a community’s sense of place. ‘Sense of place’ in rural communities assist people in maintaining community optimism when others would abandon their values, give up hope … even move away.
Some years ago, I was unwittingly propelled into community economic development. On a daily basis I assist communities all over Vancouver Island in responding to the changing economic realities that currently define the BC West Coast. The mandate of the work is to diversify the economy and help people choose employment outside traditional resource industries.
As part of an advanced degree, I was required to complete a major project that enhanced my professional abilities and helped me to better understand my own personal leadership values. I knew quite early on that I was attracted to working with women in my own community who had dedicated their lives to their communities through volunteerism. I recognized that the role these women took on required unstinting commitment to community and a sense of hope about a shared future.
These women – volunteers all – have a vision of a positive future for Vancouver Island and their commitment to that vision is apparent in their unpaid activity.
In short, they are the unpaid lifeblood of their community.
At the beginning of my project, it was clear to me that this group of women was committed to staying on in their 
community and investing both time and effort to assist the community in continuing to survive. So … I asked a group of women to gather informally and create a photographic display that showed each participant what the others valued about living in a small community. Each participant also had the opportunity to talk to the others about their photos and to tell the story of their lives and their connections to the West Coast.
The photographs did not contain many of the things that I, as the project coordinator, expected. Instead of pragmatic pictures of employment opportunities and community leaders, together we witnessed examples of family portraits, ocean view-scapes and ancient cedar trees. When asked to describe these photos with a word or sentence, the women underscored their discoveries with words such as pristine nature, serenity, cooperation and connection. Themes about the community member’s connections and relationships, how the future could only be envisioned by honouring the past and their deep-seated sense of place emerged. I was transfixed by these women’s passion for their community and their willingness to share in order to learn from each other and hope for the future.
As you’ve probably guessed, Sharon’s major contribution to the photo display was an ancient cedar tree. The tree had likely been growing on the hillside into Mitchell Bay for 1,000 years or more. 
About 50 years ago, though, a road was built in order to access that part of Malcolm Island. But instead of cutting the old giant down, someone with a great deal of foresight pushed the road around the cedar and left it standing. In later years, the old cedar was named ‘The Sentinel’ as it became a guardian for the tiny settlement of Mitchell Bay. Sharon’s photo was taken the day the old tree started to fall; she rushed out to the hillside when she caught wind of its demise and snapped the picture before it crashed to the ground.
In Sharon’s personal act of honouring the past, she summed up one of the requirements for excellent community development practice; this powerful sense of place links these women and their visions together, allowing community values to shine through during times of unparalleled change and ensuring a community where people want to live.
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Photos supplied by author.
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Tags: BC > capacity > rural > sense of place > sustainability > volunteer > women
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Community development, growth and communication in the rural-urban fringe landscape.
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December 26th, 2011 @ 4:44 pm
I cannot believe that Evelyn Clark would blow her own horn like that after the mess she made in Port Mc Neill as manager of the Community Futures Development Corporation of Mount Waddington. If you want to know what I’m talking about go to this site address:
http://www.injusticenorthisland.com/RECNS.html
If you keep looking at this website you will find lots more stories that will back up the mess she made here. Now she’s an expert.
Royal Road University Qualifications, another joke!