Rural women and economic development.

Abstract

The traditional occupation of rural women in developing countries is subsistence agriculture. Because historical factors, government policies, and development agencies have all tended to direct training in the cash economy and access to capital preferentially towards men, the productivity of women farmers has not changed appreciably with economic development. The increasing inequality of the productivities of men and women has serious social as well as economic consequences, and the inequality tends to be cumulative. It is difficult to get help to rural women in need; they are being denied the opportunity to participate in economic development and to share in the benefits from it. There is some evidence that greater involvement of women in decision-making alters investment priorities but that their involvement in resource allocation depends upon their value as wage earners. -Author