The housing pathways of single older non-home owning women in a rural region of Australia

•Single older non-home owning rural women are vulnerable to insecure tenure and poverty.•Disadvantage entrenched by combination of gender, aging and single status.•Gender norms collide with current values and neoliberal policy.•Relationship dissolution and gendered ethic of care has negative effect over time.•Cohort's housing status needs increased policy attention in rural/regional setting.

This paper reports on empirical, qualitative research conducted in a rural region of Northern New South Wales, Australia. Using a Feminist Standpoint approach, this paper examines the housing pathways in relation to the current circumstances of single, older, non-home owning rural/regional women who live independently. Between June and December 2011, 47 eligible women aged 45 years and over were interviewed and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. Key findings are that relationship dissolution and a gendered ethic of care had a cumulative and negative effect over the life course, for which the participants paid a large material penalty. We attempt to show how these women have been caught in the crosshairs of changing cultural norms which may still be current in rural/regional Australia. This study is important in raising the visibility of this specific cohort in rural communities so that policymakers can plan for their future housing needs.