GENDER INEQUALITIES IN THE DOIS DE JULHO SETTLEMENT, OF MOVIMENTO DOS TRABALHADORES RURAIS SEM TERRA (BETIM - MG)

Abstract

This article analyzes gender dynamics in Dois de Julho settlement, run by the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), in Betim, Minas Gerais. Developed as a final project in Psychology, the study sought to understand how gender relations are experienced in the settlement, based on the experiences of five female leaders. Using a qualitative approach and grounded in feminist studies and critical social psychology, the study identified practices of resistance, contradictions between theory and practice in the MST, and the effects of patriarchal structures on women's participation. The analysis showed that, despite institutional advances and discourses of equality, structural inequalities persist, such as work overload, the devaluation of care, and the underrepresentation of women in decision-making spaces. Nevertheless, women build collective forms of protagonism, articulating care, activism, and solidarity, promoting subjective and political transformations. The study reaffirms the centrality of a gender perspective in strengthening the MST and building a social justice project anchored in the experiences of rural women.