Beyond agriculture, several studies have demonstrated the important role of women

in natural resource management. Chiappe (1995:294) relates the link that rural women in

Latin America have with forests, from which they obtain firewood, medicinal plants, and

fodder for animals. Due to proximity to natural ecosystems in rural areas, women have

learned to deal with natural resources and how to take advantage of them to fulfill family

necessities. Chiappe also comments that due to the men's emigration to urban areas

seeking jobs, women often take control of the entire household management, including

home and agriculture tasks.

 Analyzed in the abovementioned terms, the socio-economic role of peasant and

indigenous women greatly differs from that passive role attributed to urban women. In

contrast to rural women, urban women are economically isolated at home, where they

work to allow the regular reproduction of the male labor force, which normally is

performed outside the home. Therefore, non-working urban women have not had direct

contact with the means of production, except through the husband.

 The main conclusion of the analysis of the household role of Andean peasant

women is that it has not been "invisibilized" by traditional societies. This role was

recognized and respected in their community. This recognition is part of a strong cultural

background, which is still pervasive in most of the rural areas of the Andean area.3

 Although the important role of peasant women in the household is recognized, it is

relevant to consider that the debt crisis of the 1980s, and subsequent economic failures,

promoted a new economic paradigm in the region. The new economic paradigm was the

reduction of the public sector and the expansion of private sector, which defined among


3 This cultural background and its impact in the gender relations will be analyzed in Chapter 3 of this
thesis.