Rural women: from cooperativism and public policies to ecofeminism as pillars of their vindication.

Abstract

Rural women play a fundamental role in food production, natural resource management, and the care of their homes and communities. However, their invaluable contribution has been made invisible and marginalized. Therefore, there is a need to vindicate their role and empower them to build a more just and sustainable future in rural areas. This article aims to analyze two approaches to rural women, as guardians of life from an ecofeminist perspective, and as agents of change based on their empowerment, taking as a reference the experience of the San Isidro Foundation Cooperative and the support of local public policies. Following a methodology of narrative review and document analysis, it addresses, on the one hand, the vindication of rural women as part of a current of thought that highlights the deep connection between life and care, exposing the causal relationship between the exploitation of nature and the oppression of women; and on the other hand, the role that cooperatives, supported by local public policies, can play in the development of leadership skills and the search for spaces of influence in the public sphere for rural women. The text concludes with some final reflections on the need to empower rural women, since from their work it is possible to rethink the construction of a more just and equitable society.