Women and agrarian cooperatives in argentine cotton economy (1934-1960)

Abstract

Located in the north-east of Argentina, the current province of Chaco has historically lead cottonproduction. Its sowing and harvesting contributed to the settlement of colonists — internal andexternal migrants — who come to settle with their families in the farms, tempted by the profitabilityof this crop promoted from state agencies. The cotton cooperativism would guarantee the coloniststhe joint commercialization of the production, warehouses to surpass the isolation of the colonies,seeds, agricultural insurance and, in some cases, also would offer the ginning. This historical studyaims to critically analyze the female participation in the cotton cooperativism in the province of Chacoin the middle of the 20th century. It intends to advance in the knowledge of the insertion of womenin the Unión de Cooperativas Agrícolas Algodoneras, institution of second degree, that concentrates and defends — since 1934 — the interests of the middle sectors of this regional agriculture. From thecomparison of diverse sources (newspapers, reports, photographs), coincidences and discrepanciesbetween doctrine and cooperative practices are revealed from a gender perspective.