Gender inequalities in the sale of handmade corn tortillas in central Mexican markets: before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze gender inequalities and intersectionality experienced by rural-indigenous women who produce and sell native maize tortillas at three different markets-tianguis in central Mexico, facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a qualitative study based on 36 in-depth interviews before pandemic (2018), as well as 16 interviews during pandemic (2020) of women engaged in this work. Results: Making corn tortillas by hand is one of the culturally assigned gender roles in the indigenous population of the Mazahua region, which is why their sale in local markets as a female strategy to have access to income for household sustenance has been widely by the communities. The configuration of the different market-space for the sale of handmade tortillas, reflects the inequalities of gender and intersectionality (ethnicity, class, age, family life cycle and education levels). The women in conditions of poverty, landlessness, and with school-age children, have met greater disadvantages in continuing to sell tortillas in the face of the experience of pandemic restrictions. Conclusions: The women who were already disadvantaged by their intersectional relationships continue to experience the same inequalities that conditioned their position in the marketplaces before the pandemic, sustaining a marginal but constant market.