During the 1980s, the rise of independent farm labor contractors and Republican labor policies led to a deterioration in the economic well-being of farmworkers and their families. Delays in the implementation of new safeguards under the Worker Protection Standards Act have resulted in continuing exposure to pesticides, causing such exposure to…

The status of women viewed against the background of the United Nations Decade for Women is examined with emphasis on the world context, the Latin American context, and the context of rural women in the region. It describes attempts at categorization of rural women in Latin America based on the main types of agricultural economy in the region and…

This paper documents migrant farm workers as being among the most persistently underprivileged groups in American society. Migrant farm workers typically receive low wages from irregular employment and live in poverty with access to only substandard housing and inadequate health care. The lack of economic improvement stems from a number of…

Women in developing nations often work long, grueling hours alongside men in the fields, but must also cook and keep house, rear children, and provide health care. In short, woman's multifaceted labor is key to the family's survival. It is surprising, therefore, that until the United Nations designated a Decade for Women (1976-1985) the importance…

Natural resource and poverty relationships are regionally specific and are associated with particular segments of the nation's population, but have no overall direct causal tie. Although employment in natural-resource-based industries in rural areas accounts for only 16% of all rural employment nationally, these industries continue to make…