Esperanza Vera-Toscano

The Impact of Chilean Fruit Sector Development on Female Employment and Household Income

Modern fruit sector development in Chile led to agricultural employment for women, though usually only as temporary workers and often at a piece rate. Nonetheless, fruit sector employment offered women access to income and personal fulfillment previously lacking. The authors link the fruit sector to improving female and family economic welfare in rural Chile and changing gender relations. Using a unique longitudinal data set, they examine womens decisions regarding labor force participation and employment, their earnings and contributions to household income, and their attitudes toward employment to understand how new opportunities are changing women, their households, and the rural sector.

Female Participation and Labor Market Attachment in Rural Canada

This article explores the reasons for differences in female rural-urban participation rates by estimating a dynamic model of participation allowing for unobserved heterogeneity and state dependence using Canadian panel data. The results suggest that overall observed differences in rural-urban participation rates are primarily due to differences in observed socioeconomic characteristics. However, for women resident in low-income households, there is evidence that the operation of rural labor markets effectively lowers their participation rates. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.