Rural society and backbone social networks in the construction of the women?s labor force: Insights from a Catalonian longitudinal study

In rural areas in Spain, the incorporation of women in the job market has been a long road laden with obstacles, while the accumulation of symbolic capital by men has produced lack of visibility and legitimacy of women?s work. Despite this constraint, women have become active economic agents. Although some of the issues are rooted to Gender Geography, and some others relate to Economic Geography, this critical rural study paper uses four lenses of social capital to explore the empirical data. Grounded in the works of Bourdieu, Coleman, Lin and Putnam, the paper explores how women engage with male lead networks; how they initiate balanced networks; and how they develop women nurturing networks. It focuses on moving forward and fosters advocacy for policies that are more effective, inclusive and gender-aware, which recognize the genuine conditions and dilemmas of everyday life in rural areas. Keywords. Local development, women?s work invisibility, symbolic power, social networks.