ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three major aspects of global restructuring: ascendance of finance capital, industrial reorganization, and changes in labor market structure. It focuses on five causes of shifts in the global economy that have particular importance for rural dwellers' lives in different localities. The five causes are restructuring of agriculture; agro-industrial development; reorganization of employment in mining and logging; movement of manufacturing away from urban centers in the West; and growth of the service economy. The chapter also discusses two examples of women's work in food-manufacturing industries: US women's work in meat processing, and Latin American women's work in the fruit and vegetable industries. Global and national restructuring processes unfold unevenly across space and time with different local outcomes that are mediated by social, economic, and ideological forces in local environments. The most consistent factor that explains women's off-farm employment is their level of education.
