Gender inequalities in the sale of handmade corn tortillas in central Mexican markets

Before and during the Covid-19 pandemic

Bibliographic Data

ID5166574
AuthorsAlma Lili Cárdenas-Marcelo (0000-0003-2513-960X, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, corresponding author), Angélica Espinoza-Ortega (0000-0002-5968-0587, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México), Ivonne Vizcarra-Bordi (0000-0003-4456-8450, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México)
Year2022
Volume9
Issue1
Publication date2022-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnic Foods (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2352-6181 • E-ISSN: 2352-619X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1186/s42779-022-00119-6
OpenAlexW4212857138
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

ObjectiveThe 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.MethodsThis 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.ResultsMaking 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.ConclusionsThe 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

Disadvantaged · Economic growth · Economics · Ethnic group · Indigenous · Inequality · Intersectionality · Pandemic · Population · Poverty · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Demography · Gender Studies · Medicine · Urban Agriculture and Sustainability

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