Indigenous Women's Organizations and the Political Discourses of Indigenous Rights and Gender Equity in Peru

Abstract

In the past three decades, as the Peruvian state has expanded services to remote areas, its professionals have approached indigenous women in a variety of conventional and novel ways. The Catholic Church and Evangelical denominations are also present in these areas, asking women to participate in religious activities. Political parties, feminists, development activists and indigenous rights organizations have been promoting the creation of women's organizations and the emergence of female social and political leadership. Independently of their understanding and respect for the cultural particularities of the communities, all these agents have been convinced that they have to produce changes in the lives of women, and that they have something to give them. This essay explores the ways in which such discourses and practices are received by indigenous women in Andean and Amazonian communities. Special attention is paid to the ways in which ideas about rights, social change and development are appropriated and reinterpreted by women who experience everyday racism and exclusion and, at the same time, are seen as responsible for preserving their cultural traditions.