A risky business: experiences of leaving home among young rural women

To access education and training or look for work many rural youth, as young as 15 or 16 years, are encouraged to leave home and move to urban centres where there are greater opportunities. The aim of this paper is to highlight the particular impact rurality and changing social policies have on young rural women in the process of leaving home. Drawing on qualitative data generated in a three-and-a-half year longitudinal study of 26 young women growing up in small rural communities in northern Tasmania, this paper examines the housing careers of these young women to identify the benefits and risks associated with various independent living arrangements. This discussion helps to put some biographical flesh on the bare bones of demographic patterns of leaving home. It also highlights some of the complex interconnections between decisions made in one arena of life, such as leaving home, and consequences in other areas, such as looking for work or continuing with education and training.