ABSTRACT
Family structures are not products of unchanging cultural "norms," but adapt dynamically to changing economic conditions. As Chant demonstrated for the case of Queretaro, the fact that male workers earn more than women tells nothing in itself about the relative viability of nuclear, extended and female-headed households, since overall family welfare is a function of the consumer/worker ratio and the internal distributive relations of the household. Gender ideologies therefore remain relevant to understanding how family and household structures adjust to changing economic circumstances, and vice versa. When a wife leaves her husband over another woman, this is often because he is failing to provide for her and her family adequately. Even assuming that the relative "profitability" of family migration in urban and rural contexts is sufficient to explain observed patterns of behavior, some criticisms can be made of Jorge Durand and Douglas S. Massey's argument.
