Commitment in action : women's issues of aging and community development in rural Nova Scotia

This thesis is informed by the women in the Annapolis Valley community of Nictaux, Nova Scotia, who volunteer time, effort, resources and heart to the well-being of neighboring elders. The study recognizes the taken-for-granted caring work and community development involvement undertaken by the rural women on behalf of elders to be a cornerstone of the community care model. The tension between lived experience and socially created expectations of the participants' caregiving role surfaces in the data which make visible the large load of instrumental and emotional caring work "voluntarily" shouldered by the women. The sociohistoric influences that disavow women's self-determination in the name of selflessness suggest the need for more inclusive rural aging policies. An ecofeminist perspective which views the sustainability of rural communities to be predicated on a responsible acknowledgement of the diversity of their members points to a shared accountability for caring.