AbstractThis paper focuses on women's roles in rice production, post-harvest work and marketing, and the implications for raising rice production and expanding productivity. It underlines the need to view rice production systems and women's roles within them in the context of their wider physical, social, economic and political environment, so that programmes and projects can use resources more efficiently. Using data collected mainly through case studies undertaken in Africa, the paper examines the different aspects of women's roles in traditional rice farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.