RUTH DIXON-MUELLER was Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Davis until 1988 and Research Associate in Demography at the University of California, Berkeley until 1992. She now lives and works in Costa Rica. She has served as a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.N. World Food Programme, the International Labor Office, the U.S. International Center for Training and Research on the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), and the International Women's Health Coalition, among other organizations. Dixon-Mueller is the author of "Rural Women at Work: Strate...