Gender inequalities in the sale of handmade corn tortillas in central Mexican markets: before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective The 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. Methods This 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. Results Making 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. Conclusions The 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.

Pulque and pulquerías of Mexico City: a traditional fermented beverage and spaces of biocultural conservation

“…In Mexico City, it is often that sellers are not producers but are supplied with pulque from producing localities, just like with pulquerías. However, in other regions of Mexico, pulque producers carry and sell their pulque in markets, such as in the State of Mexico, Michoacan, Puebla, and Oaxaca [30,[38][39][40]. Producers on a daily or weekly basis (depending on the type of market) bring their pulque to these spaces because they are exchange centers for products, have a high influx of people, and it is easier to sell it there than within their ranches.…”

What are urban consumers looking for in traditional products? The maize tortilla in a society in transition

“…At present in cities, the artisan maize tortillas are highly valued from being hand-made and from natural maize grain nixtamal (as opposed to industrial maize flour), both perceive as in risk of disappearing. These tortillas are also presented within a social background of an artisanal process and to the traditional milpa maize fields, very present in the Mexican imaginary of consumers (Cárdenas-Marcelo, Espinoza-Ortega, and Vizcarra-Bordi, 2022;Sánchez-Vega et al, 2020).…”

Women's Empowerment: Evidence from the Corn-Tortilla Value Chain in the Central Valley’s Region and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico.

“…Thus, the production and commercialization of corn tortillas are the main activities of women to support their families and sources of food security in local and regional markets (Sánchez-Soriano et al, 2023). Corn is a cereal of ancestral ethnic origin, rich in vitamins and proteins, a symbol of Mexican food culture, an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and a pillar of Mexico's Food Security and Sovereignty policy (Secretaría de Agricultura Rural, 2021;Cárdenas-Marcelo et al, 2022). Thus, different types of corn are used by rural women for the artisanal production of corn tortillas.…”