"On the hoe, on the axe, on the sickle": patriarchy and rural women's resistance to male violence in the high sertão of Alagoas
feminism; rural women; patriarchy; public policies; resistance.
Male violence against women is a complex social problem that cannot be solved only with public policies, although these are essential to its confrontation. Patriarchy, historically considered a newborn, underlies the system of domination-exploitation of women all over the world. However, women are not passive subjects of history and remain to invent and reinvent forms of resistance. From a materialist approach, this research intends to answer how the organization of rural women in feminist collectives can combat or lessen patriarchal oppression and, to do so, it specifically analyzes the reality of rural women in the sertão of Alagoas, an extremely vulnerable and neglected group, examining how violence is presented, which public policies are aimed at confronting this violence in the countryside, and if and how the organization in feminist collectives can combat the patriarchal structure in the communities. As a methodology, it uses bibliographic research for the study of patriarchy, and its intertwining with capitalism, colonialism and racism, and male violence against women, observing how they present themselves today in Brazil and rural areas; documentary research for the analysis of public policies aimed at confronting violence against rural women; and field research focused on rural communities in the Alto Sertão of Alagoas, with the use of biographical questionnaires, individual narrative in-depth interviews and under the focus group technique, participant observation, field diary production and photographic records. Preliminarily, it is possible to affirm that public policies aimed at confronting violence against women are practically non-existent in the sertão of Alagoas, where there is a culture of generalized violence. It was also possible to observe that the group of women studied has particularities that will be better identified during the field research, and it is reasonable to infer that there is a change of behavior in the participants of feminist collectives.