Rural development womens roles and demographic change.

Focus is on several specific issues in the interrelationships among rural development womens roles and demographic change. Attention is primarily on the Middle East but comparisons are made with other geographical and cultural regions. Some of the central features of the roles of rural Middle Eastern women particularly their economic roles and the relationship between womens roles and fertility are described. Some of the major changes in the area and their impact on womens roles are discussed and consideration is given to the implications these changes have for both the receptivity of rural populations to rural development projects and for the impact of rural development interventions on womens roles and on fertility. A major implication of the discussion is that changes already taking place threaten the breakdown of the traditional Middle Eastern "bargain" - a woman received lifetime economic security in exchange for comformity with the practices and values of seclusion. The changes appears to be weakening the commitment of the kin group to the support of divorced female relatives although the possibility also exists that this will affect other non-married categories of women and married women as well. This change increases the need of women for income-generating skills and opportunities in order to support themselves and their children in case of economic necessity and to contribute to family income. It is also important that these activities do not make the women unmarriageable or threaten their existing status. There is evidence that women are aware of the change and in some coutnries the increased receptiveness to planned change in womens economic roles is supported by government policies aimed at increasing female labor force participation in order to compensate for the loss of labor through male out-migration.