For rural women in America to gain some measure of empowerment, they must first have an opportunity to reinforce among themselves their common perceptions of what is happening to them in this culture. Those perceptions, while accurate, deviate from those commonly represented by the media in an urban, male-normed society. Group work is essential among rural women in order for them to be able to form the coalitions which facilitate the development of identification and group cohesion requisite for political actions necessary for their empowerment. While it is clear that group work interventions can be highly effective in working with rural women, the pervasive milieu of rural culture can work against the group practitioner. Rural women are physically and socially isolated. The"woman-as-chattel" mentality appears to be more evident among rural people. Familial independence and mistrust of available social services can lead to lack of problem identification and resolution. Another issue which contributes to the oppression of rural American women and which has profound impact on group practice stems from the importance of their use of an informal news network as the major source of information on which they make decisions by which they function on a day to day basis. (BRR)