Association of Indigenous Women of the Tapauá Municipality

The initiative looks to create a motivational space for the struggle for improvements to indigenous living conditions through holding activities and debates on women’s rights and encouraging the study of their mother tongue, additionally allowing for the exchanging of experiences. It also aims for indigenous women to participate in other political spaces, for example in search of greater access to public services.

• Community talks on the themes proposed by the project, such as discrimination in access to public services and sexual orientation;
• Professional training activities for management of forest and wildlife resources
• Creation of artisanal goods to improve economic conditions;
• Interactive games between indigenous and non-indigenous people as a means of consolidating friendship and good will and excluding discrimination.

In the municipality of Tapauá, located 769 kilometers from Manaus by waterway, indigenous peoples deal with problems such as access to public services and discrimination due to gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or because of economic conditions on a daily basis. In the municipality there is no regular public transportation and indigenous people suffer the difficulties of access to social benefits, due to discrimination by municipal authorities.
In parallel with these issues, the communities also suffer from increasing rates of legal and illegal drug use; the omission by the authorities in relation to awareness of women’s rights; along with the absence of physical and logistical support for association and a lack of guidance on issues of women’s health.

The Association of Indigenous Women aims to intensify the political training of indigenous women through their organizations, in the struggle for land and the strengthening of their people’s culture and identity, in the search for sustainable economic alternatives in accordance with their customs and traditions, catalyzing the empowerment of women in the construction of well-being for all peoples.

The Indigenous Women Association is part of the Indigenous Peoples Network of the Tapauá municipality; and of the Purus Channel where the Jarawara, Jamamadi, Kanamati, Banawa, Apurinã, Paumari, Deni, Katukina, Mamori, Karipuna, Camadeni and Cocama ethnicities meet.

The project visualized what the women’s reality and struggle look like. Challenging activities were arranged that encouraged the students to take a liking to their maternal language and interact with it, in addition to offering basic knowledge in its theory and practice. The curiosity, interest and creativity that were awakened was another accomplishment, allowing the indigenous women to explore new ideas and discover new ways to resolve everyday problems. Lectures were also held in various locales.