In Argentina, Wichí, Qom, Qomle’ec and Pilagá women are leading initiatives that combine ancestral knowledge, forest conservation and innovation. Handicrafts, livestock farming, carob, rural tourism and agroforestry systems form part of economies linked to the land, food sovereignty and community development. At the same time, their leadership extends beyond the borders of their territories to national and international forums for advocacy and decision-making.
In the Gran Chaco, the bush is a source of food, raw materials, knowledge, identity and livelihoods. For indigenous communities, conserving it is closely linked to food security, productive development and rural roots.
Indigenous women play a central role in these economies: they produce, organise, lead, pass on knowledge, incorporate innovative solutions and uphold practices of caring for the land. Their leading role is also evident in their participation in networks and forums for political advocacy, where they bring the voices and proposals of their communities to debates and decision-making at local, national and international levels.
Crafts: identity, knowledge and economic autonomy
Craftswomen transform the resources of the bush and their cultural knowledge into products that generate income and strengthen their economies. Working with fibres such as chaguar, palm and other raw materials helps to preserve techniques and knowledge passed down through generations, whilst opening up marketing opportunities.
The experience of the Gran Chaco Women Artisans’ Cooperative (COMAR) demonstrates the potential of collective organisation. Women from different villages and communities come together to strengthen their production, improve marketing and expand their economic opportunities, bringing products from the Gran Chaco to national and international markets.
Crafts are thus a productive activity, but also a way of preserving identity, passing on knowledge and strengthening women’s economic autonomy.
Carob: knowledge that becomes opportunity
The women producers are at the forefront of the revival and promotion of traditional foods from the bush. Carob holds a historic place in the diet of the Chaco peoples and is a strategic resource due to its nutritional value and availability.
Its use enables the development of products and value chains linked to the native forest. Revitalising the carob means recovering knowledge, strengthening diets and generating new economic opportunities from within the region, by integrating indigenous knowledge, innovation and commercialisation.
Agriculture and livestock farming: women as economic actors
Women also participate in and lead productive processes that sustain family and community economies. Both large- and small-scale livestock farming and horticultural production involve women, men and young people, and form part of strategies for diversification and income generation.
Their participation broadens our perspective on the production chains of the Gran Chaco: women not only sustain activities traditionally associated with them, but are also key players in sectors such as livestock farming and in the organisational and production processes that underpin them.
Recognising and strengthening this role means expanding their economic autonomy and decision-making capacity.
Agroforestry: producing whilst conserving the woodland
Indigenous women are promoting practices that link food production, forest restoration and adaptation to climate change. In various communities, agroforestry systems combine vegetable gardens and afforestation with species adapted to local conditions.
These initiatives diversify production, improve family nutrition and create opportunities for local marketing. Women are involved in production, tending the vegetable gardens and marketing the produce, thereby re-establishing a productive relationship with the forest based on diversity.
Agroforestry demonstrates that production and conservation can form part of the same development strategy, strengthening food sovereignty and community resilience.
Rural tourism: women showcasing the value of their land
Indigenous women are transforming their knowledge, cultures and territories into opportunities for local development. Rural tourism enables the integration of production, gastronomy, heritage, knowledge of the wilderness and community organisation.
Through these initiatives, women help to raise the profile of the Gran Chaco’s natural and cultural heritage and to generate new sources of income linked to their identity and territory.
Rights, health and autonomy: women leading community processes
Indigenous women’s leadership is also built on the exercise of their rights and their ability to make decisions about their own lives and communities. In the Argentine Gran Chaco, Wichí women have driven community processes linked to the right to health and, in particular, to sexual and reproductive health.
These initiatives enabled them to address healthcare, sexual and reproductive rights, pregnancy, childbirth, the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and family planning, combining their own traditional knowledge with contributions from Western medicine.
The training of female leaders has strengthened the circulation of knowledge within communities and their capacity to address these issues from within their own territories and cultural contexts.
In the context of International Indigenous Women’s Day, commemorated every 5 September, highlighting these experiences allows us to recognise a form of leadership that integrates rights, wellbeing, production, culture and territory.
Women who produce, conserve and lead
Indigenous women are at the forefront of the transformations taking place in the Gran Chaco. Their leadership spans food and income generation, handicrafts, the management of forest resources, the transmission of knowledge, community organisation and the defence of their territory.
Recognising this leading role means viewing the Gran Chaco through the lens of its capabilities, rather than solely through its challenges.
Indigenous women are central to the solutions: they generate income, conserve the forest, ensure food security for their communities, pass on knowledge, exercise their rights and create new development opportunities from within their own territories.
Global advocacy: from the territory to the world
The leadership of indigenous women is evident in decision-making forums at local, national and international levels. Prominent community leaders actively participate in networks and advocacy forums, bringing the experiences, needs and proposals of their territories to forums where public policies and global agendas are debated.
They are part of initiatives such as the Gran Chaco Women’s Collective, the Rural Women’s Network and TICCA-UNDP, and participate in international forums such as the Argentine delegation to Women 20 (W20), the Women and Gender Constituency at the COP, the UN Women Civil Society Advisory Council and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Their participation ensures that the voices of indigenous women from the Gran Chaco are heard in global debates on economic empowerment, gender equality, climate change and development.
