ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the limits and possibilities of economic change in transforming women's lives in two village communities, Nohia and Platanos, both situated in the western part of Crete. It evaluates the changing position of these women, taking into account a number of discrete theoretical approaches, namely issues appearing in the literature on women and development, those issues highlighted by social anthropologists who have carried out research in rural Greece. The chapter also explores the role of the European Community in transforming the structure of agriculture in Greece and in Crete, and recent theoretical contributions from the world of sociology and gender studies. The economic changes that took place have influenced two aspects of the socio-cultural realm, namely marriage and family relations and women's associations. Women's capacity to act individually or collectively through their associations to change their conditions has been curtailed by ideological and cultural barriers to emancipation.
