ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how economic, social and demographic factors has reconfigured a ‘new rural society’ in Brazil, thus compromising the long-term perspectives of family farming, which is labour intensive in the less developed rural areas. It summarizes the main determinants of the process of rural out-migration in Brazil. The chapter highlights the precarious conditions of work and social assistance in rural areas, such as education and health services. It considers the cultural tradition of inheritance among rural family farms, which usually excludes women from the potential inheritance of property and, ultimately, land. The chapter also considers that women reach higher levels of education than men in Brazil. While many rural men are often forced to drop out of school to engage in the farming activities, especially in the most impoverished areas, women attain higher levels of education and are more likely to migrate and obtain a job in the service sector of urban areas.
