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Navigating gender structure: women's leadership in a Brazilian participatory conservation project

Though women's empowerment remains a central topic in feminist scholarship and a growing focus within international development, leadership has not received much attention, particularly in the context of natural resource management. Interventions tend to focus on participation rather than leadership as a means of empowerment. The introduction of a participatory conservation program to the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in Amazonas, Brazil1 has had a striking impact on gender relations, increasing not only women's participation in organized groups but also female leadership in social, economic, and political spheres. This paper examines how rural women succeed in overcoming structural obstacles to leadership. Through field observation, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews, I investigate the opportunities for leadership, the environmental, and social factors that condition women's ability to assume leadership roles, and the assistance they do or do not receive in overcoming barriers. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the social structures that shape women's lives vary between leader and non-leader categories and how conservation programing might be altered to increase both women's participation and leadership. 1. Names of individuals and villages have been changed to protect the identity of research participants. Names of regional urban centers and Mamirauá Sectors are real.