Gender relations have influenced the distribution, causes, and consequences of social and economic inequality in the Appalachian region.  Labor market studies that examine gender-based sources of inequality  greatly expanded our understanding of poverty in Appalachia for both  women and men (Billings and Tickamyer 1993). Researchers, who incorporate gender into their analyses, consistently have documented that  women are more vulnerable to poverty than men in this region (Latimer  2000; Tickamyer and Tickamyer 1991). The increased attention to gender  issues within Appalachian studies reflected the heightened awareness of  how gender - in addition to race, class, and ethnicity - shape economic  development of this region. For example, recent Appalachian scholarship  examined women's contributions to early industrialization (Anglin 1993;  Billings and Blee 2000), the intersection of race, gender, and class in this  region's political economy (Smith 1999a), gendered dimensions of poverty (Cuoto 1994; Latimer 2000; Rogers, Mencken, and Mencken 1997;  Tickamyer and Tickamyer 1991), as well as women's roles in union organizing and community development (Maggard 1990; Stack 1999). Gender  inequalities also were manifest spatially within this region (Oberhauser and Turnage 1999; Gorham 1992), particularly as they relate to income disparities between men and women (Latimer 2000; Tickamyer and  Tickamyer 1991). Overall, the Appalachian region has been defined by  uneven development of its human capital and economic resources, with some areas experiencing high growth and low unemployment, while other regions are facing chronic economic problems (Hammer 2000; Obermiller and Maloney 2002; Mencken 1997; Wood and Bischak 2000).