Ecos do saber-fazer: reflexividade e estratégias no desenvolvimento de capacidades e no empoderamento de mulheres rurais na Zona da Mata Mineira

Abstract

This research provides sociological discussions about the role of women as fundamental members in the socio-productive process of family agriculture and dairy farming in the region of Zona da Mata-MG. To this end, we sought to answer the following questions: what strategies have the group of women surveyed adopted to boost the family economy in rural areas? In order to fulfil this aim, we sought to answer the following questions: what strategies have the group of women surveyed adopted to boost the family economy in rural areas? And how could we perceive, from this small universe, the set of capabilities, opportunities and social relations that are established in the rural world and are capable of transforming it, in order to ensure rural development? In this way, this field research was carried out, conducting semi-structured interviews with five women from the "Zona da Mata mineira", as well as with public agents involved in public policies accessed by these women, such as PNAE, PRONAF, in order to better understand how these policies are implemented, and how they directly affect the productive strategies of these women. In addition to conducting a brief theoretical review on the theme of women and rurality, discussing the invisibility and the processes of inequality that permeate the gender relations in rural regions, based on the literature of the area, this work contextualizes the struggles engendered over the past decades in order to ensure greater equity, citizenship, and access to opportunities and resources for rural women. Throughout the chapters, the speeches of the five women interviewed are mobilized in order to consider their productive experiences and their life projects/movements. Hence, based on Margaret Archer's concepts of reflexivity, Amartya Sen's capabilities, and Richard Whittington and Antony Bebbington's strategy, we present theoretical directions to better understand the processes of empowerment and autonomy that they experience, whether in the social, political, or economic spheres that circumscribe their daily lives. Therefore, this study gives visibility to gender issues in the rural environment, demonstrating how there is a complex way of living in the rural environment nowadays. The thesis also points out that the dynamization of rural life, listed by small rural families, involves from awareness to the use of opportunities arising from the actions of public and private agents, such as training courses and learning new techniques, as well as depends on the access to resources such as financing and market guarantees, as we will see in the experience with the street market, associations, school meals, among others. Moreover, it is hoped that all the discussion exposed here will contribute to think the ways of rural development, especially for the female population, and that we can understand that there are still many achievements and improvements to be made, both in terms of the effectiveness of social policies, as well as in the fight against inequality, poverty, and guaranteed citizenship, at the micro and macro-regional levels, in the various national territories.