This page is an excerpt from:

Helping Children Thrive: Supporting Woman Abuse Survivors as Mothers

Working with Women on Farms or in Rural or Remote Areas

Women in rural or remote areas may have additional needs and concerns, especially if they live on farms or in areas where resources are scarce.

Studies confirm they experience the same thoughts and feelings as urban women, but can face additional barriers to leaving abusive relationships and getting assistance.

Issues they may worry about or face include:

• the visibility of their situation in the community and implications for confidentiality

• lack of public transportation, long distances to travel and treacherous winter driving as barriers to accessing services

• the safety of animals such as horses and cows if they leave the home

• implications of leaving the family farm on property division in a divorce

• the difficulty of finding appropriate resources

• centralization of many resources (e.g., legal aid offices) in urban areas

• less knowledge about family violence among some service providers than in urban areas or availability of only generalist services

Women in rural and remote areas may not be able to rely on police for safety (long response times) and may not have close neighbours to hear and intervene in violent episodes, leaving them more vulnerable.

The Farm Line: 1-888-451-2903 [Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.]. Their web site has an on-line directory of services in all parts of Ontario.

In areas where it is difficult to run closed-group programs, Struthers (2002) suggests that a parenting program for mothers could be delivered in any of several modalities including group sessions, individual sessions, individual with first and last group meetings, one-time retreats, family "home work," mother conferences, and telephone or web-based conferencing.

Want to know more?

Ontario Rural Woman Abuse Study (1998). ORWAS Community Reports. Ottawa ON: Department of Justice.

Marliyn Struthers and others (2002). Designing Together: A Conversation about the Service Model for Children who Witness Woman Abuse in Rural Communities in Southwestern Ontario. Toronto: Marilyn Struthers & Co. Ltd.

Women Today of Huron (2004). Woman Abuse and Welfare in a Rural Community: Rural Women Speak About their Experiences on Ontario Works. Goderich ON: Women Today of Huron.