Development Studies Commons^™

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) signed at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit in 2000 were formulated to end poverty and greatly reduce social, economic and political inequities in the global arena by 2015. Among the eight goals highlighted in this report, gender equity holds an important position and serves as the focus of the third goal to promote gender equality and to empower women. Other highlighted areas include education, health, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability and global partnerships (UNDP, 2010). Indeed, all these themes relate to gender equity and emphasize the importance of women to the development process as a whole.

This paper analyzes the relationship between industrial restructuring and women's homework in Appalachia. Since the early 1970s, industrial restructuring in this region has led to substantial job loss in mining and manufacturing industries and increased employment in the service sector. These employment shifts, coupled with Appalachia's long tradition of informal sector activities, make homework a viable income-generating strategy for women. This paper first addresses some of the literature on the geography of gender and industrial restructuring. Second, women's homework is analyzed as an economic strategy in response to industrial restructuring. In the third section, the types and significance of women's …