ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the thesis that women are marginalised from production in the course of development, in the light of recent research which shows contradictory trends. It reveals serious deficiencies in the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the female marginalisation thesis. The chapter argues for attention to be paid to the micro-level processes which give rise to women's marginalisation. It also concerns the status of theories about long-run changes in women's economic roles produced by capitalist industrialisation. The chapter addresses a commonly-held thesis that women are progressively marginalised from production in this process, particularly in developing countries. It focuses on system-level structures and tendencies are common to many types of analysis in social science. In Latin America, 'female marginalisation' has additional theoretical connotations because of the role of the general term 'marginality' in a longstanding debate about the excess of surplus labour produced by the dependent character of capitalist development.
