Women, Motherhood, and Structural Transformation. Insights from Rural Latin America

Structural transformation—the shift from agriculture to industry and services—is key to economic development and can reshape labor market gender gaps. Yet little is known about how this process has unfolded in rural Latin America, where women face disadvantages from both gender and rurality. We document rural women’s labor market outcomes in 14 countries using harmonized household surveys, estimate motherhood effects using a pseudo-event study around first childbirth, and examine mechanisms using time-use data from Mexico. Despite educational gains, rural women still lag behind rural men and urban women in employment, hours, and earnings. While structural transformation has reduced informality and increased service and formal job participation, unpaid family work and precarious employment remain widespread among rural women. Motherhood further exacerbates disadvantages. Rural mothers face smaller employment drops than urban mothers but are increasingly pushed into unpaid work and low-skilled self-employment. Evidence from Mexico shows this stem less from childcare than from heavier household chores, home production, and limited access to labor-saving technologies. This paper provides the first evidence on how structural transformation interacts with motherhood in rural Latin America, showing that structural change alone cannot ensure inclusive opportunities for rural women.