ABSTRACT
The first part of this chapter discusses the broad patterns of rice cultivation in the islands prior to colonialism, and within this context the predominance of female labour in certain tasks, particularly in planting and harvesting of the rice crop, is underscored. The second part discusses the Spanish colonial project of transforming rice production through the introduction of technological changes. In the first instance, the technological changes that the Spanish friars diffused in the course of three centuries of colonial rule were not directed at gender per se but at the level of productivity. This technological change resulted in the high degree of gender parity in rice farming that today sets apart the contemporary Philippines from countries in Southeast Asia. Within the context of this broader social and cultural setting, the chapter moves to an analysis of colonial transformations in rice farming, which provides the lens to view and analyse changes in gender relations in rice cultivation.
