Perspectiva ecofeminista del trabajo y de las relaciones de poderla red de Agroecología ACS-Amazonía en Acre-Brasil

Abstract

This research analyzes the changes in gender relations and the role of peasant women in the agro ecology network of ACS-Amazonia in Brazil. Linked to Rio Branco weekly farmers market in Acre, this experience means organizing a network and an ecological market in the state capital. There is also a transition process of four groups of peasants who are two agroforestry poles Benfica and Wilson Pinheiro and two rural settlements Humaitá and Moreno Maia located in the region of Acre’s Valley. Changes in gender relations at symbolic and material levels are focusing on differences in participation in collective spaces, work organization, resource control, self-esteem and autonomy from a feminist perspective. We show the mechanisms contributing to greater equity in relationships between men and women, the potentialities and limits of this concrete experience. We have based ourselves on a documentary and bibliographic analysis with an ethnographic approach that highlights the voices of the agents involved in the process, through semi-structured interviews, especially to women. The occupation process has been approached with a diachronic perspective: from the conformation of the extractive system after the gum crisis to the combination of the rubber culture of life in the forest with the peasant culture of cultivation of the land for self consumption. The emergence of the agroecology network and the agroecological transition of families is framed by: the arrival and impact of the Green Revolution’s development model during Military Dictatorship, the implantation of settlement projects as a way to weaken the struggle for land and the resistance movements that were taking place in the Amazon. Finally we analyze the changes taking place in gender relations in the community organization, as well as in farm management systems and in the commercialization on the local market. The agroecological experience of this study has promoted a greater autonomy, selfesteem and social recognition of the work made by women, although it has not been created and is not working with an explicit feminist approach. These changes are related to the visibility and appreciation of women’s work and women’s role, to promoting their participation in collective spaces, to the option of participative methodologies and to the determination of these women to improve their standard of living. However, these changes to gender equity are limited and not free of conflicts. This study shows us the importance of adopting a feminist perspective in agroecological projects to promote changes towards greater visibility and participation of women and towards more equitable relationships between people.