Productive spaces and domestic roles in small-scale dairy farms in Mexico.

Abstract

The participation of women in agricultural and livestock activities in México has been made invisible because it is the men who make decisions and have control over the productive means. On the contrary, in the domestic sphere, the masculine participation does not seem to have a significant or visible contribution, since it is the women who are responsible for these spaces. This process of invisibilization of both genders led this article towards the exploration of the spaces and gender relations that make up the social structure in the small-scale dairy production model (farm) in central México. Using the ethnographic method, it was possible to define the physical space as a basic component for interaction and relationships between the feminine and the masculine, and between the productive and the non-productive. Thus, two physical spaces of masculine dominance were established: productive land and barn, and two of feminine dominance: household and health care, and the backyard milpa. Convergences of both genders were identified in all physical spaces and the activities assigned through this gender structure, although invisible, support the social reproduction of the model.