To be eligible for membership you either need to be a woman living in a rural or regional location OR you want to contribute to the connection of  rural women through financial support, mentoring, coaching, networking, or group facilitation.

No. If you align with our mission – for the advancement of rural women and girls, you can join the Coop. 

You can identify as a woman or a man or non-binary or you can live in an urban or rural environment.

Members of THE RW Cooperative must be individuals. If an organisation or business wants to join the Coop, they can, but it must be in the name of an Individual. We often partner and collaborate with organisations and businesses of like-mission, if that is you please complete the form HERE and we look forward to connecting with you.

There is a one off joining fee of $44 inc gst which will be paid when you join (and never again)

Annual Membership of THE RW Cooperative is $99 inc gst

THE Rural Woman was founded as a Company (2014), but it was always the Founder’s intention for the enterprise to be owned by the community it served (Member owned). 

In 2019 the process began of a transition from a Company to a Cooperative. The main benefits for THE Rural Woman in being a Cooperative is the collective decision making that shared ownership enables and that any value and profit generated by the enterprises activity will be used to provide subsidies and support or investment into things that are important to the Members of THE RW Cooperative. Research on THE Rural Woman, undertaken by UNE Business School in 2020, also identified strongly that our members felt the Company structure was a limiting feature of the enterprise and that another model would serve better. 

As a ‘non-distributing’ Coop, THE Rural Woman’s generated wealth (profit) cannot be distributed to members, but can be shared as subsidies or benefits made available to Members (which can be decided by Members through representation to the Board). As a Coop THE Rural Woman has a Board of Management that is responsible for the governance and strategic direction of the enterprise and this Board is elected by the Members of the Coop. This provides a collective voice and diverse representation in the strategy of the enterprise.  

Current financial Members of THE RW Cooperative do get a vote. Each year there will be an Annual General Meeting which you will be invited to and you will be invited to any special general meetings called throughout the year. 

Each Member has 1 vote. 

In the interest of simplicity and cooperativism – there is just 1 level of Membership in the Cooperative – Member!

However, there are other ways you can get involved in the work of the Cooperative through our products and services and we encourage you to connect with them. If you are a Rural Woman please join our free community HERE  (this is a female only space) or check out more information www.theruralwoman.com and look at the ‘services’ menu! 

If you are one of our 41 Lifetime Members of THE Rural Woman you will need to join THE RW Coop. However we will be waiving your Joining fee, so you will just pay the $99inc gst Membership fee (annual). Your Lifetime Membership gives you FREE (and lifetime) access to our platforms and community and the BLOOM CPPD Program.

Please note, there are no more Lifetime Memberships available (2021)

We are proudly Australian – but we are very welcoming to people from all across the globe to join as Members. We love to #livelocalgrowglobal and want to see the advancement of rural women and girls around the world!