Creating opportunities: good practice in small business training for Australian rural women

Abstract

While social and economic changes have altered the conditions and structuring of women's employment in rural areas, the opportunities for women to respond to these changes have been hampered by problems of isolation. The Small Business Skills for Rural and Regionally Isolated Women Projectwas an Australian project undertaken to address the resulting problem of low participation and completion rates of isolated rural women in vocational education and small business training programs. This article identifies the particular training needs of isolated rural women, explores barriers to their participation in vocational education, and provides a matrix of good practice elements for small business training programs aimed at this target group.