Introduction

There continues to be a great deal of concern for the health of women and young children in rural third-world communities where sustained physical effort is a mandatory way of life. Mothers and children were identified as vulnerable population groups when it was realized that rural women do not necessarily improve their diet or substantially reduce their work-loads during childbearing, and that children of working mothers may experience low birth weight and reduced levels of care. This situation has raised two important areas of inquiry. First, debate has centred on the ways in which women on tight energy budgets manage to cope with repeated reproductive demands (Rajalaksmi, 1980; Prentice, 1984; Durnin, 1985; Durnin & Drummond, 1988; Ferro-Luzzi, 1988). Secondly, the potential conflict between a woman's economic and childcare activities has been highlighted (Leslie, 1988; Hill & Kaplan, 1988), prompting investigation of the cost at which mothers, with little time and energy to spare, combine both responsibilities.

A focus on women's actual behaviour is important to such an inquiry. Whenever possible, women can be expected to minimize their work-loads; in Amazonia for instance, Ache mothers reduce their subsistence activity once children are born, in order to focus on infant care (Hurtado et al., 1985). Yet women may not always be able to curtail their economic activities: they will tend to decrease optional tasks rather than essential economic work.