SOCIO-ECONOMIC STABILITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF APPALACHIAN WOMEN MICHELE DAWN KEGLEY A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership & Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December, 2011 This is to certify that the dissertation entitled: SOCIO-ECONOMIC STABILITY AND INDEPENDENCE OF APPALACHIAN WOMEN prepared by Michele Dawn Kegley is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership & Change. Approved by: __________________________________________________________________ Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D., Chair date __________________________________________________________________ Laurien Alexandre, Ph.D., Committee Member date __________________________________________________________________ Mary K. Anglin, Ph.D., Committee Member date __________________________________________________________________ Kimberly K. Eby, Ph.D., External Reader date Copyright 2011 Michele D. Kegley All rights reserved. Acknowledgments I was sitting in the pew listening to the pastor quote Woody Allen—“Half of life is showing up.” He went on to talk about how in life we have dreams and ambitions, and sometimes we feel like we are failing to meet these aspirations and wonder if we are meeting the expectations for those who depend on us (sermon 5-29-2011). He said, “‘Half of life is showing up,’ and God provides the other half.” His advice to us was just show up and quit worrying. The people I have to thank have done more than show up. They have impacted my life in ways they will never know. I thank God for getting me through this program and sending these special angels into my life. Let me start with my kids who have learned to wash clothes, cook, and understand my own version of what we call phone sign language—codes for I am talking if you are not on fire or bleeding go away and come back when I am off the phone. Most importantly they endured some of the biggest changes of their lives during these four years and still make me proud! I love them more each day. My girlfriends, Princess Dorothy, Pretty Nicole, and Moral Mandi, who listened to me cry, complain, and make up new chapters in the book of the ludicrous. I would not have gotten through this program or the four years of change without them, love you. Thank you to my committee, especially my advisor Laurien and my chair Elizabeth. Both of whom gave advice on more than just my program work and supported me at times I could not see the light much less the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you to the storytellers in this study who poured out their hearts and helped me grow. i Finally, thanks to the one person who has supported me my whole life with love and survived her own trials. She always said I took on too much, but she would never tell me to quit. She would tell me to get back to work and that she would help any way she could. She loved my kids, taught me strength, listened to my fears and tears, and encouraged me to be a better mom. Love you, mom. In loving memory of JT, pilot interviewee, friend, and supporter; I and the world miss you. ii Abstract This study researched Appalachian women who were in emotional, social, or economic reliant relationships with male spouses and became socio-economically stable and independent. This effort is to give Appalachian women voice and learn from their accounts of how they led change by financially, physically, and socially providing for themselves and their dependent children. Research is limited to a particular group of white middle class Appalachian women in the North- Central sub-region of Appalachia. This group was chosen because they have been largely overlooked in the literature. However, this study does not answer questions of all women’s experiences and barriers in Appalachia. African American, Hispanic, and other minority women are not represented. It is my hope the stories of these women who successfully overcame significant challenges in creating socio-economic stability in their homes provide a positive role model for other women of the region. Through a set of criteria, 15 Appalachian women ages 34 to 74 that left their first marriage, were socio-economically stable and independent were interviewed. Confidential interviews recorded participants’ life stories. Each woman discussed her experience in her own voice and explained how she led change in her family’s life. The stories were coded for major themes using NVivo 8 software. An adaptation of situational mapping was used to contextualize the primary themes. Generational influences emerged as an important theme and three narratives, one for each generational group, are retold as exemplars highlighting the primary themes, Appalachian Characterization, Generational Issues, Children, Economic Independence, Education, Reasons for Leaving, Social Support, and Self-Leadership. Appalachian education experts affirmed the significance of the themes and situated them in the cultural context of the region. Analysis of the narratives and the situational map shows the significance of economic independence, social support, and place to their life stories. Identification of Appalachian women self-leading provides an important addition to the iii Appalachian studies literature. The electronic version of the Dissertation is accessible in the open-access OhioLINK ETD Center http://etd.ohiolink.edu/. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments i Abstract i ii Table of Contents v List of Tables viii List of Illustrations ix Prologue 1 Chapter I: Introduction 3 Definition of Terms 3 Rationale for Research Study 5 Place, Economics, and Women’s Roles in Appalachia 6 Place—Appalachian Region and Economic Resources 6 Appalachian Women and Leadership 8 The Research Method 11 Researcher’s Positionality 11 Influence of the Pilot Research 12 Conclusion 14 Chapter II: Literature Review 1 6 The Space of Appalachia 16 Differentiating Communities: Rural and Rural Appalachia 19 Differentiating Urban and Rural Areas 20 Urban and Rural Labor Force Participation Rates 22 Stereotypes 27 Women’s Roles and Economics in Appalachia 33 Women’s Roles 33 Economics of Appalachia 40 The Economics of Being Female in Appalachia 44 Self-Leadership 48 The Role of this Research in Appalachian Studies 52 Chapter III: Method 5 4 Methodological Fit 55 Method of Study 58 Participants 58 Women of the Study 59 Narrative Analysis 63 Interviewing 64 The Coding Process 65 Thematic Analysis 67 Situational Interpretation of the Narratives 68 Ethics and Personal Attachment 69 Conclusion 70 Chapter IV: The Findings: A Thematic Analysis 71 Narrative Thematic Analysis 71 Appalachian Characterization 73 Generational Issues 77 v Children 81 Economic Independence 85 Education 90 Reasons for Leaving 92 Social Support 97 Self-Leadership 101 Summary of Primary Themes 105 The Women’s Stories 106 Silent Generation 107 Violet’s Story 110 The Beginning 111 The Decision to Leave 112 After the Marital Relationship 113 A Message to Other Women 115 Reflections on Violet’s Story 115 Baby Boomers 116 Adele’s Story 118 The Beginning 119 The Decision to Leave 120 After the Marital Relationship 120 A Message to Other Women 124 Reflections on Adele’s Story 125 Generation X 126 Carly’s Story 128 The Beginning 128 The Decision to Leave 130 After the Marital Relationship 135 A Message to Other Women 137 Reflections on Carly’s Story 139 Concluding Comments 139 Chapter V: Situational Interpretation of the Narrative Themes 1 41 Seeking Discourse on Women in Appalachia 143 Educational Theme 145 Appalachia—Place 147 Support Systems and Economics 150 Women’s Self-Leadership 153 Concluding Remarks 154 Chapter VI: Discussion, Implications, Limitations, and Future Research 1 56 Discussion of Findings 157 Appalachian Women’s Self-Leadership 157 Significance to Appalachian Studies 165 Implications for Leading Change 167 Limitations of Study 170 Future Research 171 Epilogue 17 4 vi Appendix 178 Appendix A 179 Appendix B 180 Attachment I 181 Attachment II 1 87 Attachment III 1 88 Attachment IV 19 1 References 1 93 vii List of Tables Table 4.1 County Economic Status in Appalachia, Fiscal Year 2011 61 Table 4.2 Women’s Demographic Data 62 Table 4.3 Appalachian Characterization: Primary Theme identifying the participants’ perceptions and views characterizing Appalachian people and place. 73 Table 4.4 Generational Issues: Primary theme identifying issues affected by the generation the participant belonged. 78 Table 4.5 Children: Primary theme depicting the significance of children in the mother’s decisions to stay or leave a relationship. 82 Table 4.6 Economic Independence: Primary Theme demonstrating the participant’s ability through income, careers, support and education to provide for self and children. 85 Table 4.7 Education: Primary Theme emphasizing the importance of education to women’s independence. 90 Table 4.8 Reasons for leaving: Primary Theme capturing the reasons why women ended relationship with male spouse. 93 Table 4.9 Percentage of women reporting at least one type of abuse as they defined it, the node abuse/fifteen total participants 94 Table 4.10 Social Support: Primary theme demonstrating the importance of family and social support to the achievement of independence and stability. 98 Table 4.11 Self-leadership: Primary theme depicting the leadership traits, behaviors and characteristics of self leading women. 101 viii List of Illustrations Figure 1.1 Sub-regions of Appalachia 7 Figure 2.2 Economic Circle of Life 26 Figure 5.3 Map of Narrative themes 141 ix x 1 Prologue Autumn Winds By Effie Smith O autumn winds, with voices far away, I hear you singing on the leafless hills, And all my heart with jubilation thrills! You bring to me no message of dismay, No tender sorrow for the year’s decay; Rather you sing of giant trees that cast Their leaves aside to grapple with the blast, Strong and exultant for the stormy fray! Hearing your music, glad and wild and pure, Sounding through night’s cool, starlit spaces wide, I grow aweary of earth’s paltry lure! Oh, like the trees, I too would cast aside The fading leaves of pleasure and of pride, And stand forth free to struggle and endure!1 (E.