Women of the field, the waters, the forest and the esplanada:
interactions, advances and challenges in the production of public policies
In the context of advances and setbacks in policies for women, in general, and for rural women, in particular, this research aimed to understand the interactions between rural women's movements and the Directorate of Policies for Rural Women (DPMR) , as well as the effects of interactions on the actions of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) to combat gender inequalities in rural areas, including internal institutional reorganization efforts. From the perspective of state feminism, we sought to verify whether the Brazilian Federal Government has become more inclusive of rural women and their demands with the institution of the DPMR in the MDA; investigate to what extent the institutional changes undertaken by the MDA assume a feminist perspective and challenge patriarchy; and verify to what extent external institutionalities for rural women remained effective over time and in the face of the cyclical changes experienced in Brazil after 2016. Research was carried out using a set of qualitative process tracking techniques, which included the analysis of institutional documents related to the period from 2000 to 2023 and semi-structured interviews with leaders of women's organizations and representatives of the MDA. The main results of the research indicate that rural women have projected themselves onto the national political scene, as a fundamental political actor for transforming the way public policies are made for women; the DPMR became a prominent actor in the political process and in the production of these policies; interactions between the movement and DPMR produced the realization of women's rights related to access to documentation, land, technical assistance, public resources to structure their productive and economic activities and social participation; the effects of this alliance were also expressed in advances related to the representation of rural women in national councils, especially CONDRAF, CONSEA and CNAPO; where mechanisms were established to guarantee the participation of women and women's or gender committees were created in its structure, which favored the debate on inequalities in public policies and political participation; however, the policies, programs and actions achieved by rural women did not resist the changes undertaken by the government after 2016.