Women living in the suburbs want more social contact: study

SACKVILLE
By Yvette d'Entremont - The Weekly News
Women living in Sackville value their parks, playgrounds, trails and other local gathering places, but are disappointed by the loss of Wal-Mart and the role it played in helping women connect with others.
Those are some of the findings of Fall River resident Kate Thompson. She presented the results of her Masters of Planning Studies research study "Women's Perspectives on Suburbs and Social Contact" to a small group of women on Feb. 26 at the Cobequid Community Health Centre.
Her work was based on focus-group sessions and input from 18 Lower Sackville women who met over several months to discuss where and how they get together for social contact.
"What was interesting were some of the things that were omitted. Home wasn't important, and even though the women were saying neighbours are important for security and things like helping shovel a driveway, they were not important for socialization," Thompson said.
"People probably would like to think we are a bit closer to our neighbours, but that's not necessarily the case. Contact with neighbours is important, but there's a different role for neighbouring than people think there is."
The women in Thompson's focus groups took photographs to illustrate their local meeting places and their individual experiences. Photos included Memory Lane Family Place, churches, Second Lake Park, the Sackville Public Library, grocery stores, Fultz House, the Sackville Sports Stadium and playgrounds.
"The Millwood Commons came up so many times for women who had children," Thompson said. "It's a great gathering place ... Having children breaks down barriers and forces conversation between women."
The Vineyard and its Avodah Cafe was also brought up by many women.
"It's a wonderful place to drop by for nutritious, relatively inexpensive food. It's very welcoming, comfortable and safe," Thompson said. "There are inside and outside activities, and they host a play group. They've done a lot of things right."
Some of the things the women thought would improve their social contact in the Lower Sackville area included better maintenance of places like Met Field and improving parks, playgrounds, sidewalks and trails. They also felt there weren't enough places where women could drop in without feeling obligated to spend money.
Many criticized both the aesthetics and the traffic along Sackville Drive, and several cited the loss of Wal-Mart as a blow to the community from a social networking perspective.
"It's not necessarily that they want WalMart back, but they want some form of retail back in that spot because you could access everything there and meet so many people," Thompson said. "It was the kind of place that afforded opportunities for other activities. I think the women are also embarrassed about that big hole in the middle of town."
The Canadian Institute of Planners and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's working group on housing needs have invited Thompson to meetings to discuss her work. She hopes her study will help planners better understand how to design neighbourhoods that support the social cohesion and health of the people who live there.
"Social contact is essential for good health. A lot of people live in suburban places, suburbs are growing across Canada, and they haven't been studied in great detail," said Thompson.
"The idea underpinning this is that women are the caregivers. If they are happy because they're getting good social contact, the rest of the community will be healthy."
ydentremont@hfxnews.ca