When you mess whith one woman, you mess all (of us!)

Abstract

This research addresses the role of social movements in defending rural women's rights as an end and embraces women as the object of the Movement. Provides that this Movement produces intervention in a context of inequality and in a reality of vulnerability. This qualitative study is the result of the researchers experience and fieldwork and results from the application of a discussion group methodology. From the results of our study, we can say that a feminist management initiative produces very relevant results and is linked to an educational approach that generates the empowerment of women by helping them to place themselves in a social and cultural space in which cultural and social norms are unfavourable. This paper points out that the acquisition of knowledge and skills, as well as Governance, are important in building the opportunity to improve the lives of rural women. The field experience allows us to report that the Direito de Uso e Aproveitamento da Terra is limited by the sociocultural space and by the existing networks that create constraints accessing productive resources and to the reduction of poverty. The feminist experience contributes to increase the level of women’s consciousness, expanding the potential that the dissemination of information has and providing visibility to the violation of rights to which women are exposed. As a contribution, the research brings critical insight into the importance of working on the rural area and on empowering women through stronger instruments linked to their social field.