| Abstract: | It is important for the development planner to view the family as a flexible organizational unit of individuals who have different roles, privileges, rewards, options, and obligations. In developing countries the criteria for distributing resources and responsibilities within families are not the same as the Western criteria of development needs and requirements. Neither do sex and age, particularly among the poor, determine the roles people play in the family. Women play important productive roles in developing countries and a critical role in the cultivation of all crops, subsistence and cash, in sub-Saharan Africa. Children also make important contributions. Although all family members must work hard, scarce resources and immediate needs frequently result in unequal distribution of resources and access to services. All members of low-income families in developing countries are involved in the struggle for survival, for no 1 income source is adequate. The family's decision-making process is implicit in all its distribution of both responsibilities and resources. If wives in poor households are able to retain control of their earnings, they can have more power. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the women have a major agricultural role, their power bases are broader. |
