Patriarchy and progressive politics: gendered resistance to mining through everyday social relations of state formation in Intag, Ecuador

Abstract

The government of Ecuador has, in the last ten years, advocated for environmental and socioeconomic
progress via state-controlled resource exploitation, following a regional trend. Academics have shown that
the progressive goals of this neo-extractive approach need more research. In particular, this article looks at
how growing government and social programmes are associated with gendered criticisms of state-led
extractivism. Women continued to face patriarchal interactions in their daily lives even as they fought for
political legitimacy and rights in state politics. Based on my eight months of ethnographic study conducted
over six years in the Junín and Chalguayacu Alto campesino communities, I contend that the women of Intag
questioned the patriarchal state relations of extractive capitalism. A fresh take on neo-extractivism and
resistance based on gender is presented in this article. The state's pledges of social welfare and infrastructure
development, which it used to garner popular support for contentious mining projects, were held responsible
by women. Gendered resistance politics may learn from these emblems of state paternalism, which exposed
the deep-seated patriarchal systems that supported their everyday existence.