The co-production of gendered livelihoods and seasonal livelihoods in the floodplains of the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

Gender is poorly understood in rural Amazonia. There remains limited understanding of how livelihoods are gendered or how labour is divided within the household. In this paper, I offer a conceptual framework for understanding gendered division of labour and gendered livelihoods in rural Amazonia. I draw on ethnographic data collected in two riverine mestizo villages located on the floodplains of the Ucayali River, Peru. I disaggregate riverine agro-fishing livelihoods by introducing the gendered and seasonal divisions of livelihood activities, highlighting how gender roles and livelihood seasonality need to be understood as co-produced. I suggest that rather than the annual flood being a ‘miserable’ period as previously suggested in the literature, the flood season and flood recession represent two socially distinct periods, with livelihoods rotationally focused within and beyond the household respectively. Gendered livelihoods are further complicated by household composition and life-stage, with single-headed households, particularly female-headed households, often over-burdened with productive and reproductive labour. This paper begins a necessary conversation of gender and social difference in Peruvian Amazonia, while questioning the relationship between gendered livelihoods and seasonality.

Keywords:

• Gendered division of labour
• gendered livelihoods
• Mestizo
• Peruvian Amazon
• Ribereños
• seasonal livelihoods

Acknowledgements

I am deeply appreciative to the research participants for warmly welcoming me into their lives and generously sharing their time and perspectives with me. I am extremely grateful to Sarah Turner and Christian Abizaid for their most helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive feedback. This paper stems from a larger research project, the fieldwork for which was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Conference of Latin American Geography Field Study Award, and the University of Toronto.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer C. Langill

Jennifer C. Langill is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Geography at McGill University. She is a feminist human-environment geographer, currently researching rural and agrarian-based livelihoods in the Global South. More specifically, she is interested in the relationships between social and political marginalization, livelihood activities, and individual lifeworlds. She has recently published in Ambio, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, and Sustainability. This paper is based on research conducted while she was affiliated with the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto.