Mothers and Piqueteras. Argentinian Women during the Food Crisis, between Participation and Role-Ambivalence

Abstract

This article will explore the dynamics of gender equality in food conflicts occurred in Argentina during the crisis of 2001. The empirical material consists of interviews and observations gathered in an investigation about the piquetero movement (MP) of Cordoba. Women's participation in these forms of politics and mutual mobilization was decisive, though not adequately recognized. We will focus in particular on the role played by women during the food crisis in Argentina, in the context of community work. This expression refers to various forms of work, volunteer or paid, carried out for the benefit of the local communities and neighborhoods, in a perspective that fostered the development of the local community. According to our interpretation, the involvement of women in the community work of the MP has had a crucial effect on the reconfiguration of gender relations in Argentina. After a brief historical presentation and an introduction to the case study, we will try to demonstrate how the conflictual dialectics participation vs. reintegration can be read in view of the structural ambivalence related to gender roles (Merton 1976; Calabrò 1991). And how Argentinian women managed to improve social condition of marginalised people, acting on gender roles’ ambivalences.

Keywords: sociological ambivalence, female mobilization, 2001 Argentine crisis, social protest, gender.