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Women often contribute a major proportion of the family farm labor, usually to the production of food crops and to specific tasks such as weeding and cultivation.
Agricultural extension programs have frequently overlooked the importance of women, both as major contributors to the farm labor supply and as significant family breadwinners.
This article explores changes and nature of women's work in Gilan – in homogenous area on the north of Iran. It was determined that Geographical, Cultural and Economic structures shaped that nature of women's work.
In this category the most important factors effect on women's work during the recent years were modernization, family income landownership and women's education. Some major indicators were examined to test the effects on women's work in the area under studied.
Conclusion indicate that differences in the structure of the families income has a greater impact on the situation than agricultural industrialization. Moreover, women in the poor families were more engaged in labor force. This changes may divert female labor from food production with subsequent effects on the welfare of the family.
Key words: Rural Development, womens work, Agricultural technology, Gender sensitive planning, women and Development, Gilan proviance, Iran.