Across South America, Indigenous communities have often considered territorial protection to be the main responsibility of men, while women typically assume roles as caretakers of the household, family, and community. However, in the Brazilian state of Tocantins, Indigenous women from Krahô communities have formed a female-only surveillance group to protect their territory from invaders — a rarity in the region. Since operations began, the guard, called Mē Hoprê Catêjê, has been able to identify and report one threat to Brazil’s Indigenous protection agency, Funai, which was related to an invasion of their territory. The 303,000-hectare (748,729-acre) Kraolândia Indigenous Land (TI) is located in the Brazilian Cerrado, in the municipalities of Goiatins and Itacajá. It is under immense pressure from loggers, hunters, agribusiness, and charcoal factories. Krahô peoples’ waters have become contaminated by pesticides applied to soybean and cotton plantations nearby. The group, which is supported by Funai, the Indigenous Work Center (CTI), and tech company Awana Digital, was established in September during a women’s territorial defense meeting last September. Over eight days, the Krahô women gathered with other Indigenous women guards, including from the Guajajara of Arariboia and Guajajara of Carú, to share ideas and experiences. “In the past, women could not be part of any leadership,” Luzia Krahô, or Kruw, one of 13 members of the newly formed group, told Mongabay over WhatsApp voice messages. “Women always stayed at home to take care of families and children. But nowadays I see changes. We have the courage to…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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