Mulher, desenvolvimento e meio ambiente: a experiência da Associação Mãos Mineiras

Abstract

This work discusses the issue ofwoman, development and environment. It is aimed to identify the development strategies under a gender perspective and to verify woman's contribution in the rural development. The methodology of the research is based on a qualitative approach through the case study of Associação Mãos Mineiras (Mãos Mineiras Association), located in the town of Lima Duarte, Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais. For data collection, the interview was used, on the basis of semi-structured questionnaires and the focusedinterview. As a pioneering experience in that region, started in 1988, the intention ofthe Association was to contribute to the generation ofincome of the rural population. The associated women produce feeding complements and handicraft done from reutilizable material. The developmental strategies ofthe Association involve, in an articulate way, the economical activity, with emphasis on solidaristic socioeconomics, the sustainabihty of environment, the valorization of the local knowledge and the improvement of the condition ofthe woman's life. The developmental strategy under a gender perspective has been addressed to woman's emancipation through work. It still includes the participation as an organization and empowering and the access warranty to a pubhc space of sociability and social leaming. The women presente a close relationship with the survival and the cares of the family. They recognize that the social and human aspects are fundamental to an authentic developmental process. The associative experience has been collaborating for the flexibleness of the relationships of gender of that group, through the strengthening of selfesteem, self-reliance and the women's economical autonomy. The research pointed out that a program of rural development that privileges woman's participation presents a tendency towards formulation of strategies of greater sustainability. It also found that woman's participation is fundamental in the sustainable rural development due to her wide vision and capacity ofelaborating creative strategies that contribute to meetthe needs of systemic solutions oflocal range.