Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines that the mid-1980s was a significant period for the development of feminist approaches in geography. It examines the development of theoretical ideas from feminist geography within which rural gender studies have been framed. The book shows how the debates taking place within the discipline more widely have been applied to the direction of feminist research in the rural context. It traces the different phases of feminist thought from early work on gender roles through to the current focus on gender difference and gender identity and on the uncertainty surrounding the relevance of categories based on sex and gender. The book considers the development of feminist geography, providing a framework of mainly theoretical ideas onto which is mapped a rural perspective. It presents an overview of the way particular debates in feminist geography have influenced the study of gender in rural context.