Gender and Rurality 1

This research provides the real testimonies of around 20 older women from the rural area of the Province of Chiloé, in the south of Chile. These testimonies have been interpreted from some sociological theories, by means of certain keys that transversalise the discourse of these women from Chiloé, in order to answer the questions: How are the gender differences that are established in rural Chiloé society manifested; where do the greatest gender inequalities occur in rural Chiloé society; what are the effects of these gender inequalities in the lives of rural women from Chiloé; and what are the effects of these gender inequalities in the lives of rural women from Chiloé? The answers to these questions have allowed us to visualise the gender differences that occur in this context, considering that this society maintains, in its social relations, the ancestral traditions, myths and beliefs of a very particular culture given its condition of "social and geographical isolation", which are manifested in practices and beliefs typical of the traditional patriarchal society.