With reference to case study material from Mexico and the Philippines,
this article examines the assertion that recession and adjustment in
developing countries have impacted more heavily upon women than men in
low-income urban households. Although the analysis finds that women d
o bear a greater share of the costs of economic restructuring, the con
sequences in respect of changes in their lives are variable. Critical
factors affecting the nature and magnitude of impacts are the national
and local economic contexts in which neo-liberal reforms have taken p
lace, and variations in gender roles and relations both at grassroots
and wider societal levels. Following a general conceptual overview of
gender-specific aspects of recession and structural adjustment in deve
loping countries, and discussions of key parameters of gender roles an
d relations in Mexico and the Philippines which are likely to have a b
earing on the ways in which women's lives are affected by restructurin
g, case studies are presented of economic change and the consequences
for poor urban populations in Mexico and the Philippines in the 1980s
and 1990s. The concluding section identifies key similarities and diff
erences in the gender-specific impacts of recession and adjustment, wi
th reference not only to practical dimensions of change but what they
mean for women in ideological terms. While important changes in gender
roles seem to occur under structural adjustment, particularly in resp
ect of women's increased role in generating income for the households,
changes in gender relations are less immediate and/or obvious. Copyri
ght (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd