ABSTRACT
In the past several decades enormous changes have taken place in the developing world. Not least of these have been those related to women’s roles and demographic levels. In most developing countries population growth rates (and thus family sizes) have risen due to decreasing mortality rates and more or less constant birth rates (although fertility rates have now begun to fall in many developing countries); there has been a large movement of people away from rural areas and towards urban areas; there has been a tendency for women to marry at later ages; and the structure of the family is changing. Women’s roles have also been changing. In addition to the significant effect the movement of women from rural to urban areas and rising education levels have had on women’s roles, there have also been important changes within rural and urban areas due to nondemographic factors. In rural areas, for example, the introduction of new crops and new technology, the increasing monetarization of agriculture, increasing landlessness and parcellization of land have all greatly affected women’s roles; in urban areas factors such as decreasing job opportunities in modern or formal sector employment and changing industrial structure have also had large effects on women’s roles. It is now widely recognized that social, political and economic changes have differential effects on men and women, and that a conscious effort should be made to improve the relative position of women in the economy and in the society. But what do we really know about what women are doing, how this has been changing over time, the factors that are responsible for these changes and what important feedbacks are associated with changing women’s roles?
