This paper identifies the nature of interactions between the bureaucracy and smallholder farmers in Malawi. It proposes that the role of women must be explained within the context of the processes of social economic differentiation that characterise the rural economy. The paper outlines the policies and bureaucratic practises that consolidate the dominance of the bureaucracy, and the subordination of rural women in the Malawian development process. Its conclusion is that the smallholder development strategy that puts emphasis on commercialisation of agriculture, combined with decision making processes which are centralised in the bureaucracy, serve to reproduce and perpetuate historical forms of social differentiation which are the basis of the women's subordination.