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This paper examines the marginalization of women's land rights by governmental institutions and rural women's movements in Brazil. The authors point out that the issue of land rights in Brazil has been largely overlooked, and attempt to consider previously overlooked aspects of family farming.The authors find:that the empowerment of women within agrarian reform is occurring in an unpremeditated way and parallel to demands raised by the leadership of rural movementsthat the influence of the active role played by women in the encampments of occupied land may be diluted in the return to traditional gender relations as settlements are established, or may even generate frustrations that cannot be ventedother opportunities may be emerging for settled women as they become increasingly involved in a variety of productive activities, whether in women's associations, participating in and even presiding over co-operatives, or working outside the settlementThe authors conclude that these new options may well present ways for empowerment.This paper is divided up into two main sections:the first section presents broader transformations of the Brazilian rural economy, principally over the last two decades, and the major changes that have occurred in the position of rural women as a result of agricultural modernizationthe next section then describes the challenges posed by women's land rights from the perspectives of several different groupsThese sections are based on qualitative analysis of documents and pamphlets both from the government and the various movements, and on field research carried out between July and September 2000.
