It's raining men: the other drought in rural Australia
There is one woman to every two men in some rural areas. Sandra Jbeili gets this and other interesting facts from the 2008 Social Atlas.
There’s more than one form of drought in rural Australia and it’s causing stress among young male farmers in many parts of the country.
The 2008 Country Matters—Social Atlas of Rural and Regional Australia (the Atlas) reports that in many rural areas across Australia there’s a shortage of young women.
Indeed the gender imbalance in the 15 to 24 years age group in rural areas is sometimes as high as two men to every woman. This is the case, for example, in rural areas south of Perth WA, near Townsville Qld, and in the Yarra Ranges east of Melbourne.
However, the gender imbalance is reversed in the more populated regional centres and urban centres. In other words, young women favour the towns, and according to the Atlas, regional and urban centres have received an influx of young women aged 15-24, who are seeking secondary and post-secondary school education and remain there for employment and lifestyle opportunities.
The Atlas also reveals that country people have very high volunteering rates and greater home ownership rates than their city cousins. Regional populations are also growing rapidly in some locations, most notably in Queensland, driven predominantly by migration from our cities, but also by immigration from overseas.
This has led to some towns and cities having a high proportion of immigrants.
The Atlas provides valuable analysis on internet connectivity rates in different regions, on employment participation by age and gender, and analysis of education attainment and school retention rates in different rural communities. It reveals that the largest increase in the number of people to gain vocational qualifications occured in small towns at 25.2 per cent and regional centres at 22.7 per cent.
Mr Patrick Stakelum, Senior Demographer at the Bureau of Rural Sciences, which produced the Atlas, said: ‘More rural Australians than ever before are getting vocational qualifications, for a number of reasons. For example, higher qualifications provide for increased access and acceptance, as well as the qualification being more relevant to the type of work rural Australians are engaged in.’
The drought and the resulting economic downturn for agriculture in rural areas and small towns has, however, significantly contributed to rural population reductions, ageing of the population and gender imbalance.
Changes to the size and makeup of populations in small towns and rural areas have had a profound effect on the social fabric of communities. ‘But the glue that holds a community together can be strengthened by a number of factors,’ Mr Stakelum said.
Home ownership rates were higher in rural areas than in major urban centres. More than three-quarters (76.2 per cent) of homes in rural areas and more than two-thirds (69.4 per cent) of homes in small towns were owned or being purchased. This was higher than the rate of home ownership in major urban centres (63.6 per cent).
A higher proportion of people are volunteers in rural areas than anywhere else in Australia. For example, more than 40 per cent of people in Barcoo, in central Queensland, volunteer for their community. Across Australia, more than one quarter of people from rural areas and small towns undertook volunteer work.
Access to information technology is fundamental for modern households, farming activities and businesses. The Atlas shows rural people are embracing the internet, with all areas having more than a 25 per cent growth in households connected to the internet in the past five years to 2006, with the largest growth occurring in rural areas at 28.5 per cent.
The ‘digital divide’ is no longer based on whether you live in the city or the country, with only a marginal difference in the proportion of households with internet connection in major urban centres (66.1 per cent) and rural areas (63.5 per cent).
The flow of different ethnic groups into regional Australia has increased cultural diversity and the social fabric of these regions. New settlers continue to contribute to the growth of communities and the workforce in regional areas. According to the Atlas, the number of recent arrivals to Victoria increased by 47 per cent between 2001 and 2006, compared with the previous five years. For example, in Cobram, 10 per cent of the population are Iraqi refugees.
Rural Australia is battling with a number of issues: drought, climate change, an ageing population and gender imbalance. But the Atlas reveals just how resilient rural Australians are with internet connection rates up, volunteering numbers sky high, and cultural diversity being embraced with enthusiasm.