The co-production of gendered livelihoods and seasonal livelihoods in the floodplains of the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

Gender is poorly understood in rural Amazonia. There remains limited understanding of how livelihoods are gendered or how labour is divided within the household. In this paper, I offer a conceptual framework for understanding gendered division of labour and gendered livelihoods in rural Amazonia. I draw on ethnographic data collected in two riverine mestizo villages located on the floodplains of the Ucayali River, Peru. I disaggregate riverine agro-fishing livelihoods by introducing the gendered and seasonal divisions of livelihood activities, highlighting how gender roles and livelihood seasonality need to be understood as co-produced. I suggest that rather than the annual flood being a ‘miserable’ period as previously suggested in the literature, the flood season and flood recession represent two socially distinct periods, with livelihoods rotationally focused within and beyond the household respectively. Gendered livelihoods are further complicated by household composition and life-stage, with single-headed households, particularly female-headed households, often over-burdened with productive and reproductive labour. This paper begins a necessary conversation of gender and social difference in Peruvian Amazonia, while questioning the relationship between gendered livelihoods and seasonality.