Rural Industrialization and the De-Feminization of Rice Farming, the Case of a Village outside the Freeport Area of Bataan

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of rural industrialization on women’s access to rice farming in the Philippines by studying one village in the town of Mariveles in the Province of Bataan where the first Special Economic Zone was established in the country in 1972. Findings from household surveys and field interviews conducted from February to August 2015 illustrated that the creation of the zone provided economic opportunities for rural folks especially among women. However, the resulting labor scarcity initiated changes in farming practices, which in turn, created barriers for women to participate in rice farming, de-feminizing it in the process. This is especially significant among older women who are unable to work anymore in the factories. The findings in this study present a different dynamics from the previous researches on women’s participation in the manufacturing sector and the agriculture sector as it tries to determine how rural industrialization affects women’s participation in rice farming.