9312042 Stephens, L Rural economies in developing nations are fundamentally altered by a variety of world and local events such as variation in demand for raw commodities or land reforms. This project will evaluate the impact of the recent free trade agreement between the US and Mexico and ejido restructuring on gender and family relations in three sectors: rural ejido communities, non-ejido rural subsistence communities, and in the urban informal sector. Research will focus on regional factors such a changing employment availability, land prices and family dynamics in six sites. The investigator predicts that economic restructuring in Mexico will have different effects on the rural and urban poor in relation to region, gender, age, and ethnicity. The specific topics to be explored in local reserach sites include the gendered division of labor, household, marital and family relationships, migration patterns, political mobilization, and participation in community cultural institutions. Research will be eventually be extended to a total of six sites in Oaxaca and Nayarit. This Research Planning Grant for Women Scientists requests funding for the first 18 months of a five year project to facilitate a pilot study in the state of Oaxaca and to allow the principle investigator time to gather background data to write a three-year NSF proposal to complete the full project. Specific planning activities include: (1) spending part of the 1993-94 summer and academic year in Oaxaca, Mexico to institute a pilot study in three communities; (2) spending one month during the 1994-95 academic year at the Center for US-Mexican Studies in San Diego, California using the data base on ejido household to frame questions and collect background data for the states of Oaxaca and Nayarit; (3) spending part of the investigator's sabbatical year, 1994-95 writing a multi-year NSF proposal to fund the remaining three years of this project; and (4) reading relevant materials available in Me xico and communication with scholars involved in research on agrarian restructuring in Mexico during the 18 month planning period. ***
