Rural Women, Employment and Poverty in Wellington County

One of the themes that this blog has touched upon most often is the additional barriers that clients living in Wellington County face. This is accentuated in the case of rural women in Wellington County, which is the subject of today's blog.

When researching the major issues facing rural women living in Wellington County, I came across 2 reports, a 2006 Report by Opportunities in Waterloo Region entitled 'Rural Poverty Research: Working Poverty in Waterloo Region and Wellington County' (henceforth, OWR Report - http://www.owr.ca/RuralPovertyReportAug2006.pdf) and a 2005 Report by the Training Adjustment Board for Waterloo-Wellington entitled 'Rural Women's Needs Assessment Study: Wellington County and Ontario' (henceforth, TAB Report - http://www.wwtab.com/Files/English/Rural_Women_Needs.pdf).

Some of the common problems faced by Rural Women include:

• Transportation
• Lack of Opportunity
• Rural Training Unavailable
• Childcare
• Lack of Permanent Positions
• Physicial disability/Health Concerns
• Lack of Experience
• Few High-Paying Jobs
• Lack of Government Support
• High Stress Levels and Depression
• Chauvanism
• English as a Second Language
• Training Programs are not well promoted
• Employers are not committed

A number of these issues have been touched on before. Transportation is perhaps the biggest barrier; many rural women do not have driving licences and even if they do, they cannot afford to run a vehicle. There is a Greyhound bus which runs once a day from Owen Sound to Guelph on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and this goes through Mount Forest and Arthur, two of the places where the Clinic has satelitte offices this summer. Harriston and Palmerston are not served by Greyhound. However, a return fare costs $40.70 from Mount Forest and $30.10 from Arthur.

There is no other public transit provision in Wellington County except for the new service called Wellington Transportation Services. This is a new initiative set up by the Rural Wellington Transportation Group which includes the County of Wellington Social Services, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, VON Community Support Services and the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington. These organisations have banded together in order to create a volunteer driver service for those living in the County who need to go to Guelph or elsewhere for necessary appointments. To find out if you are eligible, please call the following toll-free number: 1-866-694-9562. An excellent overview of transportation options for those living in Wellington County can also be found on the United Way website: http://www.unitedwayguelph.com/newsletters/july07_social3.html. The cost and availability of transportation is therefore an enormous barrier for rural women.

Childcare is another large barrier faced by rural women who are looking to return to work. The OWR Report quotes 2006 figures of $28-$50 a day for childcare in Wellington County; the larger amount is usually paid for babies or very young children and undoubtedly, these figures have increased in the past two years. The TAB Report states that the prices and availability of childcare makes evening and shift work almost impossible for rural women.

In addition, there are barriers to actual employment itself. There are more rural women looking for jobs in the County than there are employment opportunities and many employers hire for part-time or contract work rather than full-time employment. Although this may be advantageous for some of those who are seeking to return to employment gradually, the lack of job security coupled with the lack of employment benefits that contract and part-time jobs offer are definite barriers for rural women. Furthermore, many rural women do not have the experience, qualifications or credentials that employers are seeking and many of the jobs are low-paying or minimum wage jobs meaning that it is difficult for rural women to make ends meet, particularly for those who may be paying for childcare.

These problems are accentuated if rural women are living alone and do not have the financial - and emotional support - of another adult. Isolation is a huge problem in rural communities and the TAB Report notes that chronic unemployment can often lead to stress and depression, which in turn leads to less employable individuals as potential employers are unlikely to strive to employ those with long-term physical and/or emotional disabilities. Lack of support from the Ontario Government is also a significant factor; the TAB Report indicates that Ontario Works does not provide enough financial assistance to low-income individuals and families and that women starting their own businesses are not supported to a high enough level to keep them out of debt.

Self-employment is one potential avenue but the TAB Report highlights a plethora of potential problems: many rural women reported that they had difficulty acquiring business loans because of their limited credit history and the bank's perception of them as high-risk. In addition, self-employment often has a negative effect on rural women receiving government benefits and many rural women reported that even if their business was initially successful, government benefits were suspended with the result that there was no safety net if their business failed.

Finally, the training opportunities are limited for rural women. Many training programs for those looking to upgrade their skills and/or education are offered out of Guelph, which is over 1 hour away. As Devin and I have found, road construction in the summer means that it can take over almost an hour and a half to get to and from Mount Forest from Guelph. As we have touched on before, even if rural women have access to cars, winter driving is extremely hazardous in the County, which will inevitably lead to missed training opportunities or days at work. Few training opportunities exist in rural communities and there is a lack of funding for training opportunities and those that are provided are often inadequately funded or promotion of these opportunities in Wellington County was either non-existent or insufficient. Furthermore, online training is also often not even an option because either low-income individuals cannot afford the cost of a internet connection themselves but also due to a lack of high-speed internet in the county.

Perhaps the saddest part of this entire blog is that many of these same points have been made repeatedly in Report after Report but there is little to no action on improving the prospects for rural women beyond the occassional burst of light such as Wellington Transportation Services. It is beyond the scope of this blog to offer solutions to all of these problems, although the Reports themselves do offer some. However, as the Northern Boundary Project begins to wrap up, Devin and I will seek to consolidate all possible online and telephone resources available to those living in the County - especially low-income individuals, men and women - on this blog to provide a one-stop shop of information to our clients living in Wellington County.