This study describes the status of 34 million rural women and analyzes how they and their families will be directly affected by cuts in the 1983 federal budget in the areas of legal services, vocational education, domestic violence intervention, energy assistance and alternative energy development, public housing, unemployment compensation, social security benefits, public transportation, farm loans, child care, and civil rights enforcement. Described are impacts of tighter Farmer's Home Administration loan policies; elimination of Comprehensive Employment and Training Administration jobs; Volunteers in Service to America cutbacks and possible termination; higher education reductions in Guaranteed Student Loan Program, Pell Grants, and work-study program jobs; elementary education retrenchment reducing teacher and classroom aide jobs; and elimination of Women's Educational Equity Act funds which support development of teaching methods/materials promoting equal public education and compliance with federal anti-discrimination regulations. Other program cuts will affect the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program; Aid to Families with Dependent Children; Women, Infants, and Children program; Medicare; Medicaid; and Food Stamps. Separate sections outline program cuts which will adversely affect minority women, the poor, elderly women, and migrant farmworkers. A final section describes the consolidation of 57 separate programs into 9 block grants and their potential impact on the poor. (NEC)