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PIP: Informal ways of working are widespread and central to the economy and markets. This paper explores what informal economy is and how it could be more valuable for men and women. The informal economy is a mix of the following activities: 1) subsistence work which includes agriculture, marginal economic projects, and unpaid work in the home; 2) informal work which includes unregistered businesses, and illegal or criminal activities; 3) casual production, a sub-contracted or ¿off-the-books¿ work which deprives workers of the benefits tied to recognized employment; and 4) community work and barter. It is shown that more women, when compared to men, work and live on the border between the household and the market economy. Usually men do more technical or mechanized production while women tend to do activities within traditional women's roles. Men and women often have different understanding of what work is. Men consistently underestimate the women's contribution to the household income. To improve this critical issue of gender differences, rules, norms, and laws that cause problems must be identified, and then work can begin with both men and women to change laws and policies, as well as ideas and beliefs about women's contribution to the economy.^ieng

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PIP: The work force participation of married, Mexican-origin immigrant women who came to the US in the 1980s was investigated. Determinants of employment utilized in this study are the women's human capital stock, household resources, and labor market structural factors. Nine hypotheses were derived from the analytical model and were examined through logistic regression. Findings showed that all human capital resource and structural labor market factors were significantly related to employment. On the other hand, four of the five family household factors namely: the age and presence of children in the household, husband's income, husband's employment, and non-labor income were significantly related to employment. Furthermore, the positive factors indicating the likelihood of being employed in 1989 for Mexican immigrant wives are: 1) being 25-54 years of age; 2) higher educational levels; 3) speaking fluent English; 4) lower levels of husband's income and non-labor income; 5) employment of husband in 1989; 6) absence of children under age 6 at home; 7) lower non-Hispanic female unemployment rates; 8) higher work force proportion employed in immigrant female-dependent occupations; 9) lower proportions of the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) population being of Mexican origin; and 10) smaller MSA populations.^ieng

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PIP: This article focuses on the situation of women in Mexico's maquiladoras (assembly plants). There are approximately 1 million Mexicans working in over 4000 maquiladoras in which violations of worker's human, labor, and health rights exist. The specific dangers of work in maquiladoras and the double burden of domestic and factory work that women already bear all contribute to a wide range of health hazards for women. These workplace hazards include toxic chemicals, unsafe equipment, poor workstation design, and excessive heat or cold, poor ventilation and lighting, harmful noise levels, and dangerously high production quotas. Since most maquiladoras illegally dump hazardous waste and spew contaminants into the surrounding environment, residents of maquiladora communities are exposed to additional health hazards simply because they live near the plants. In response to this problem, workers have organized themselves into community-based groups and democratic unions. The need for worker-controlled organizations was emphasized because workers who are organized have greater possibilities of addressing their concerns about health, safety, wages, and job security than those who are not.^ieng

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PIP: Since 1990, poor women in Peru have suffered from the impact of structural adjustment policies, which have lead to low wages, poor working conditions, and a general deterioration in the status of women workers. To address these problems, the Asociacion Aurora Vivar began its Alternative Technical Training Program for Women in July 1992, with the aim of increasing the entrepreneurial skills of women. The project aimed to support women who have problems at work, those who are unemployed and those with low income. Moreover, the project sought to increase women's participation in nontraditional areas of work. Training focused on increasing women's technical skills, including the repair of home appliances, and on personal development, such as leadership skills, confidence building, and business management. The project attracted a diverse group of women who took part in the training for a variety of reasons. The women's new capacities and skills create a positive image for them within the household. Aurora Vivar acknowledges the importance of vocational education to increase women's opportunities to earn a living. The association is proposing reforms in the educational system to introduce courses on business management, credit, and other technical skills as part of the formal education system.^ieng

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PIP: The authors explore the gender identities among women factory workers in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Using data from 3 generations of women, they show that women's participation in the maquila work force is exposing them to new ideologies which challenge traditional images embodied in the marianismo ideal of Mexican womanhood. By focusing upon women's changing experiences of courtship and motherhood, the authors suggest that conventional discourses stressing parentally supervised mate selection and full-time motherhood are being challenged by alternative ones which allow young women to socialize freely with prospective mates in unsupervised contexts, and expand the meaning of responsible motherhood to encompass full-time employment. Women workers' identities are fluid processes in permanent negotiation. ¿^ieng

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Data gathered in Aguascalientes during the 1990s are used to analyze how the garment industry in Mexico has responded to economic recession and trade liberalization. In particular, the relationship between industrial change and gendered patterns of migration are explored. The author concludes that "migration over recent years has increasingly allowed working women the possibility of entering a transnational labour force and given them important labouring and living experiences on both sides of the border."

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PIP: The introduction of mechanized technology into a rural Maya agricultural community in the mid 1970s markedly increased the technology with which maize could be ground and water collected, which in turn introduced a possible savings in the time spent working. This study investigated the response of female fertility to the introduction of this labor-saving technology. Using two proximate determinants of female fertility, the association between the advent of modern technology and changes in the age at which women give birth to their first child and the length of mothers' birth intervals was examined. Analyses showed that women begin their reproductive careers at a younger age after the laborsaving technology was introduced. Estimate of the median age at first birth from the distribution function dropped from 21.2 years before the introduction to 19.5 years after the introduction of the technology. In addition, modeling results show that the probability of a woman giving birth to her first child doubles for any age after the introduction of laborsaving technology. However, changes in birth intervals are less conclusive since the differences of smoothed probability distributions are not significant. Moreover, findings indicate that women who initiate reproduction at a younger age can potentially have longer reproductive careers and larger families.^ieng

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PIP: This overview of sociodemographic research on the urban female labor force in Mexico from the 1970s to the mid-1990s traces the gradual development of a gender focus. One of the first problems examined was the insufficient visibility of female economic activity, resulting from underestimation of the productive contribution of women by information producers, analysts, and the women themselves. The next phases were documentation of existing differences between male and female economic activities, and analysis of the degree to which differences were transformed into inequalities. The process involved delving in greater depth into the causes and consequences of concentration or segregation of women in specific activities or occupations, as well as into the discrimination they experienced because of their gender. Some sociodemographic studies reconsidered the relation of extra-domestic and domestic work; a gender perspective on labor force analysis must take into account the essential fact that most women in the labor force also carry out domestic functions. Most studies of domestic work in Mexico, however, have been carried out separately from studies of extra-domestic work. This survey of the evolution of sociodemographic studies of work clearly demonstrates that the gender perspective is present or not from the moment of selecting a topic for research. The gender focus allows reconceptualization of well known themes, such as the subordination of working women.^ieng

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PIP: The program 'Educacion y Trabajo' (Education and Work) in Chile was designed to help train unskilled workers and to facilitate their entrance into the labor market. Employing a participatory educational approach, the program provided personal and vocational training for men and women aged 15-30 years. Both technical and personal development training, which are embedded in Popular Education methodology, emphasize interaction among students and between students and teachers using games, videos, slides, manuals, cartoons, and worksheets. Interviews with female participants confirmed the program's empowering effects on the personal, as well as economic situation of women. The study further demonstrates how Popular Education is applied and adapted to promote self-esteem and self-reliance among female participants. Process-oriented, participatory learning, and horizontal relationships between the learner and teacher, allowed for the development of interactive structures in the classroom. This approach has especially benefited married women. Central to this empowerment process is awareness raising. By emphasizing the sociocultural origin of social structures, Popular Education helps demystify the social sphere and shows the importance of each individual in contributing to its improvement. However, while this program helps enhance women's self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-promotion, it only represents an initial step. To continue the path to full empowerment, negotiating powers must go beyond the household level and into the formal economy.^ieng

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PIP: While more women are participating in training and decision-making in the local-level drinking water and sanitation sectors, this is not occurring at higher levels because of the gender imbalance that remains in higher-level sector education and professional training programs. This imbalance is characterized by gender-biased science curricula and by a lack of female role models. Even in developing countries where female enrollment outstrips that of men in higher education, women commonly prepare for careers in areas that are less valued than sanitary engineering. This imbalance ignores the fact that women can perform technical and managerial skills as competently as men. A similar male-dominated pattern emerges in professional training courses offered by development agencies, especially courses that focus on management issues. Low female school attendance begins when girls must forego primary school attendance to help their mothers in domestic chores, such as fetching water. Inadequate sanitation facilities for girls at schools also pose impediments. Efforts to improve this situation include 1) a promotional brochure developed by the Botswana Ministry of Education to raise awareness of the importance of men's and women's work as technicians and engineers in the water and sanitation sector among secondary school students; 2) creation of free schools and universities in Oman, where the numbers of women in previously male-dominated jobs are increasing; and 3) promotion of female education at the Asian Institute of Technology.^ieng

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PIP: This article examines gendered work-health relationships among female factory workers in Rio Tinto, a textile factory town in Brazil. The author draws on her own and her parents' experiences as factory workers and as residents of Rio Tinto. In addition, she gathered research during 1982-86 and 1988-93, interviewing 30 female and 12 male workers. Findings from 1924-58 and 1959-91 indicate that the family structure and work process were interlinked. Self-images are construed to be the intersection of social relations of sex and class, psychopathology, and the concept of work positions. Gendered relations are a social construction, and awareness of these relations is based on a hierarchy and form of power based on a gendered division of labor. Gendered relations arise out of a specific historical context. Social practices reflect the relationship between sexual division of labor and gendered social relations, their modalities, shape, and periodization. The work-health relationship is expressed in the gendered technical organization of work, the gendered socialization of work, and domestic labor. The period of 1917-58 reflects the capitalist influences. When women became wage earners, their management of household tasks was changed. Men took over the heavy tasks, and women performed tasks that required skill and patience. Work-related health impacts, such as deformed knees or severed fingers, and accidents varied with the task. Women adapted to work conditions. During the 1940s, female workers refused to join the collective protests of men for better wages and conditions. The dream of progress faded by 1964. After 1959, new gendered relations of production and reproduction emerged. Labor laws were passed; new machines were introduced. During 1965-70, the health issues were headaches, irritability, and anxiety. 1970-91 brought a hollowness of spirit and the search for an explanation for the violence they had experienced.^ieng

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PIP: The author posits that female labor force integration in Jamaica accomplishes little in alleviating poverty and making maximum use of human resources. Women are forced into employment in a labor market that limits their productivity. Women have greater needs to increase their economic activity due to price inflation and cuts in government spending. During the 1980s and early 1990s the country experienced stabilization and structural adjustment resulting in raised interest rates, reduced public sector employment, and deflated public expenditures. Urban population is particularly sensitive to monetary shifts due to dependency on social welfare benefits and lack of assets. Current strategies favor low wage creation in a supply-side export-oriented economy. These strategies were a by-product of import-substitution industrialization policies during the post-war period and greater control by multilateral financial institutions in Washington, D.C. The World Bank and US President Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative stressed export-oriented development. During the 1980s, Jamaican government failed to control fiscal policy, built up a huge external debt, and limited the ability of private businessmen to obtain money for investment in export-based production. Over the decade, uncompetitive production declined and light manufacturing increased. Although under 10% of new investment was in textile and apparel manufacturing, almost 50% of job creation occurred in this sector and 80% of all apparel workers were low-paid women. Devaluation occurred both in the exchange rate and in workers' job security, fringe benefits, union representation, and returns on skills. During 1977-89 women increased employment in the informal sector, which could not remain competitive under devaluation. Women's stratification in the labor market, high dependency burdens, and declining urban infrastructure create conditions of vulnerability for women in Jamaica.^ieng

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"This paper uses 1991 census and 1990 survey data from Brazil to test hypotheses regarding the relationship between population growth (most of which stems from immigration), sex ratios, and women's labor force participation on the Amazon frontier. Strong evidence supports the link between population growth and sex ratios, though significant local variation exists. The relationship between sex ratios and gender roles, especially female labor force participation and occupational mobility, is less clear and appears variable."

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PIP: An overview was provided of some of the economic and social changes in Mexico that impact on women. At the Colegio de Postgraduados, an ongoing project will examine women's work roles in an agricultural setting. The Ford Foundation has funded research studies at Mexican universities. One such study will examine women workers in foreign-owned factories producing duty free export goods; another study involves interviews with street vendors in the informal sector. Jose Alonso is a specialist on the Mexican garment industry, teaches at the University of the Americas, and advises at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico. He contends that the process of development can best be understood by examining the informal sector. There is no Mexican tradition of a business class. Scholars at the Colegio de Postgraduados' Center for Rural Development are exploring income generation schemes, and building a master's degree program specializing in gender and rural development. The program would train professionals with an understanding of the needs of rural women and appropriate strategies for improving women's social and economic conditions. Crises have precipitated major shifts in work patterns in Mexico. During the 1980s, inflation and unemployment rapidly increased and income declined to 1970s levels. Mass movement of women into the labor force occurred. For many women, the dual role in long paid work hours and family and domestic care has produced independence with a big price tag. Manufacturing jobs along the free trade border areas have provided work opportunities for women, who hold 70% of the jobs. These jobs have moved from low paid menial tasks to higher skilled and better paid positions with training, but only for some women. There are few unions, and the government Confederation of Mexican Workers does not include women. Notwithstanding working conditions, women confront other problems with housing and the lack of basic amenities such as electricity, tap water, trash collection, and paved roads and walkways. Border areas such as Juarez attract 200 unemployed daily. Unregulated growth will turn these border cities into densely populated areas. About 40% of the economically active population work in the informal sector. Much of the vendor merchandise is illegal contraband, and intricate handicrafts are sold next to electronic games, cosmetics, and silk-screened T shirts. Informal work is also available for women in cottage industries at home. The Agro-Industrial Women's Unit in Buenavista helps to secure agricultural land holdings for women.^ieng

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PIP: This special issue contains a section on the family in Brazil with two articles. The first, by Ana M. Goldani, examines how family characteristics in Brazil have changed since 1981 in response to the economic crises that have affected the country. The author uses census and survey data to analyze the relations between demographic trends and family characteristics. Particular attention is given to the growth of non-nuclear families, such as one-parent families. The second, by Dominique Fougeyrollas-Schwebel, also looks at changes in the family in Brazil, with particular reference to changes in women's work both within the family and in the work force.^ieng

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"This article examines the relationships between changes in the volume, relative importance and growth rates of female migration to Santiago [Chile], and modifications in the structure of the female labour market during the past four decades. It also analyzes changes in the characteristics of occupational insertion of migrants as compared to non-migrant women." The author investigates the impact of modernization, education, access to contraceptives, rural labor markets, and development strategies. (SUMMARY IN ENG)

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PIP: Changes in the volume of female migration to Santiago and in the employment patterns of migrant women are analyzed in relationship to changes in the female labor market from 1950 onward, with special emphasis on the years 1970-90. Data sources include published works, the censuses of 1952 to 1982, a 1962 survey on in-migration to Santiago, employment surveys conducted by the University of Chile and the National Institute of Statistics, special tabulations for subsamples of the 1970 and 1982 censuses, and household employment survey information from the fourth quarter of 1993. In 1973 Chile embarked on a process of structural adjustments that affected social expenditures and employment, profoundly modifying urban labor markets. The Chilean economy is currently in a phase of consolidating its productive transformation, with positive results for economic growth and recuperation of employment, but with no reduction of poverty. The explanation of the growth in poverty should be sought in modifications in the conditions of employment of the Chilean population during the productive transformation. Modernization processes such as increased education and access to fertility control contributed to an increase in the number of highly educated women in nonmanual occupations in Santiago, but have not significantly influenced the volume or direction of female migration or modified the disadvantageous occupational profile of migrant women. Gender considerations including cultural norms governing female sexual behavior and nuptiality appear to exercise a decisive influence on the occupational status of migrant women in Santiago. Low status, single women migrating to Santiago have been concentrated in domestic service in part because of their need to find work providing safe living quarters. After 1975, migrant women encountered an increasing proportion of urban women working and looking for work and a structural transformation of domestic service marked by massive absorption of low status nonmigrant women. The disadvantages of migrant women related to their lower age, education, and urban experience have declined or disappeared, but disadvantages related to lack of family and housing in the city have persisted. Continuing high rates of urban poverty in Santiago and substitution of precarious employment for open unemployment have resulted in continuing high rates of female employment. The lack of dynamism in the expansion of female employment, the persistence of gender segmentation of the labor market, continuing tertiarization of female employment, and new trends to precarious employment and increased economic participation of nonmigrant women suggest that occupational patterns of migrant women will not change greatly in the 1990s. Although they have become better educated and prefer to avoid live-in domestic service, their employment options appear limited.^ieng

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PIP: Significant increases have occurred over the past 40 years in the labor force participation of Latin American women. The changes have been caused primarily by transformations in the economic system, but also in part by changes of attitude regarding the role of women in economic development and household survival. Average female labor force participation rates are difficult to compare over time and between countries because of differing cultural patterns concerning work, use of differing concepts of productive work and labor force, and different time periods of coverage. Some common trends can be observed in labor force participation despite the data limitations. A decline occurred in overall participation rates, at least until 1980, while female participation rates increased continually over the entire period. Several factors have been suggested to explain the overall decline, among them longer school attendance by young people. The Latin American Economic Commission classified Latin American countries into four groups according to their level of economic and social modernization. The role of women in the labor market and in domestic work is associated with the level of modernization. In all four groups, female activity rates have systematically increased in all countries. The distribution of women in the different productive sectors varied in the four groups. The two most developed groups concentrate a large part of the urban population, and in these groups the increase in female economic participation has been most pronounced. Establishment of maquiladora industries has been particularly associated with growth of female labor force participation in the past 15 years. The work of maquiladoras is associated with such problems of the informal sector as poor hygiene and exploitation. The informal sector is known to have grown considerably and to have permitted survival of many families during the economic crisis of the 1980s, but sufficient data is not yet available to gauge its true size.^ieng

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PIP: In Central America, women's productive roles are negated by the widely held belief that women do not work in agriculture or do so only temporarily for reasons of poverty. Working as unpaid laborers, working seasonally in cash crops, and engaging in informal sector activities off the farm, women are not seen as agricultural producers or full-time wage laborers. That notion is enhanced by rural women, who tend not to describe themselves as producers. Women farmers are therefore invisible and deprived of social and legal recognition and protection. Recent studies, however, have found that women throughout Central America have played a long-standing role in agriculture as permanent, not temporary, workers. Official statistics indicate that almost 20% of rural households are headed by women who are fully responsible for agricultural production. Indeed, there are villages in Central America inhabited solely or mainly by widows and single women and their children. Despite the growing body of evidence on women's true productive role in Central American societies, their agricultural roles still remain largely invisible in government census and labor statistics. The author discusses barriers to opportunity and supporting women farmers in Central America.^ieng

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We address several key hypotheses about the effects of socioeconomic development on women's labour force participation during the transition from agriculture to industrialism. To this end, we explore differences in women's labour force participation in Brazil by education, marital status, age, and urban or rural residence. We also show how socioeconomic development affects the overall level of women's participation and the differentials by education, etc. Our data are drawn from a large 1973 PNAD (Pequisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilos) survey conducted by the Brazilian census bureau. Socioeconomic development in different parts of Brazil ranges from pre-industrial agriculture to heavy industry. Using logistic regression, we show that the general level of women's labour force participation does not change with the level of development. Highly educated women are much more likely than the less educated to be in the labour force (net of other influences); this difference is substantially greater than in post-industrial societies. Somewhat surprisingly, the influence of education is the same across the range of development levels in Brazil. Single women are more likely to be in the labour force than married women, and the difference grows during development. Age has a curvilinear relationship to labour force participation, and the old are much less likely to participate in more developed places. Rural women are slightly more likely to be in the labour force at all levels of development.

PIP: Several hypotheses are used to explain the relationship between women's labor force participation (LFP) and socioeconomic development: 1) that women's LFP rises during industrialization because of the demand for workers in traditional female occupations; 2) that women's LFP declines during the transition to industrialization and rises thereafter; and 3) that women's LFP is unaffected by industrialization. This study examines data from the 1973 Brazil PNAD (Pequisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilos). In 1973, differences in socioeconomic development existed among Brazilian regions, but the cultural environment was reasonably homogenous. The data are unique in provision of LFP for all women who were engaged in or seeking market-oriented work even in the home or as unpaid family workers. Logistic regressions model the effects of education, marital status, and residence on the probability of women being in the labor force. 60% of the sample was used in the analysis due to computer capacity limitations. Development levels were based on Haller's socioeconomic development scores and were ranked in quartiles. Findings reveal that 10% of women were engaged in the labor force at all levels of socioeconomic development. The evidence from prior studies shows that the chances of being in the labor force have changed only a little over time. The expanding opportunities hypothesis is rejected. The results conform to cross-national comparative studies showing that level of development has little impact on women's LFP. Educational level is directly related to the greater likelihood of participation. LFP rises with the level of education. 30% of women aged 20 years with no schooling are in the labor force, while 40% of women who completed the first cycle of secondary school are in the labor force. 60-70% in the labor force are second cycle graduates. The incentive hypothesis is preferred. Low wages among uneducated women are not a sufficient incentive. Marital, age, and residence effects are discussed separately. The level of development shapes the effects of some factors.

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