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Abstract
This paper examines the impact of increased labour force participation in seasonal California
agricultural employment of Mexican migrant women on maternal and infant health care. A hypothesis examined m
this study is that inadequate prenatal, postpartum, and infant health care must be attributed to low participation
rates in government programmes, infrequent use of medical services, and the large influence of custom on maternal
and mfant health care. Survey evidence was based on a sample of 150 seasonal farm labour households in three
major California counties. The evidence was compared with two other major California seasonal farm labour
surveys in order to verify the hypothesis and to provtde information about the impact of the changing role of migrant
females and famtlial health care. The study concludes that inadequate prenatal medical exams during pregnancy for
those workingwomen may result in a higher incidence of birth-related problems; underpartic1pation m government
programmes is strongly linked to cultural influences that associate pregnancy with a "normal" feature of those
women's hves; low incidence of traditional methods of infant feeding (1.e., breastfeeding) is linked to the increased
participation of those women in the seasonal agricultural work force; and custom plays a central role in postpartum
and infant health care and, hence, has a direct impact on participation in available government health programmes.