Thinking through gender and intersectionality in campesino livelihoods in Guatemala and Nicaragua

Keywords: Central America, gender gaps, identity, migration, smallholder agriculture
Session Type: Virtual Paper
Day: Wednesday
Session Start / End Time: 4/7/2021 04:40 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada)) - 4/7/2021 05:55 PM (Pacific Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 33

Abstract

Applying a lens of intersectionality, we consider how gender manifests in the construction of campesino livelihoods in four different smallholder farming sites in northwestern Nicaragua and highland and Pacific coast Guatemala. Livelihoods in communities in these research sites are highly precarious, constrained by national political economies characterized by historical and contemporary racial and class oppression and now also by increasingly difficult climate conditions. Livelihood outcomes largely reflect land and other farming input access challenges and out-migration/remittances. At all four sites, labor migration to the U.S. or neighboring countries plays an important role in enabling local livelihoods and moderating food insecurity. We analyze data from a household survey, qualitative interviews, and workshops we carried out between 2013 and 2015 with women and men from over 500 farming families to explore variation across sites. The multi-site case study approach, combined with the lens of intersectionality, allows for multiple aspects of social difference and oppression to emerge meaningfully in the context of otherwise relatively homogenous communities. Our findings highlight the gendered nature of livelihoods in intersection with race/ethnicity, wealth, age, and migration status.