Resistance and challenges of the women of the Meseta Purépecha against the violence of structural adjustment policies

Abstract

Since the 90s, the neoliberal model has generated the need to transform the inefficient rural sector to adapt it to a highly competitive agro-export model and neo-extractivism. The case studies examined in this document aim to make visible the responses that the women of the Meseta Purépecha have given to the specific structural adjustment policies that directly affect them. The methodology used for this purpose was based on in-depth interviews, focus groups, life trajectory recovery, observation and literature review of previous studies. The first section contains a brief conceptual framework about structural adjustment policies. Afterward, the specific policies that characterize the case studies are analyzed: the microcredit policies related to the case study of the women of the National Coordinator Plan de Ayala (CNPA) and, subsequently, the extractivist policies in the case of the women of the autonomous municipality of Cherán in the Meseta Purépecha. Finally, we conclude with a scheme on the achievements and challenges that women face in each case, as well as with some reflections from the feminist economy. This makes it possible to detect areas of opportunity to improve their living conditions.