The Roles of Rural Women: Female Seclusion, Economic Production, and Reproductive Choice

In a broad sweep of land extending across North Africa through the Middle East into South Central Asia, one finds a number of countries that share certain economic and cultural characteristics relevant to the issue of female roles and reproductive behavior. In most of these Moslem and Hindu countries—from Morocco to India—rural women, on the average, marry while still in their teens, some into polygamous households; bear children at rates among the highest in the world; are unable to read or write; and, with few exceptions, are not engaged in what is officially defined as “gainful economic activity” (see table 9-1).