The Gender and Waste project addresses gender inequality that women waste pickers face at home, at work, and as leaders within their representative organizations. It has mapped out practical and strategic needs in order to attain economic and political empowerment.
The Gender and Waste Project started in 2011 as an action research project with women waste pickers in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It was a partnership of WIEGO, the Women’s Research Centre (NEPEM) at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), non-governmental organization Insea, the national waste picker movement MNCR, and the regional waste picker movement RedLacre.
Project Activities
From 2011–2024, the project team worked with women waste pickers in Brazil to address practical and strategic needs. The research phase led to gender-sensitization workshops, capacity building on communications and leadership coaching. The team co-developed educational toolkits for workers and for researchers and practitioners who want to support waste picker movements. These were shared with waste pickers across Latin America. The women who participated in the project in Brazil developed a Gender Action Plan at the local and national level. This inspired further action research on issues including occupational health and safety, and climate change.
Understanding women waste pickers’ practical and strategic needs
Consultation with women waste picker leaders throughout Brazil and Latin America and a review of literature shed light on women waste pickers’ concerns and demands and shaped the design of the project. Workshops were then held with women waste pickers to hear their experiences of gender discrimination and map their practical and strategic needs.
Developing gender and waste toolkits for workers, practitioners and researchers
Women waste pickers, the WIEGO team and popular educators from the Parangolé group co-produced a popular education toolkit on Gender and Waste. Available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, this toolkit serves as a resource for workers. A practitioner/researcher toolkit provides insights for those seeking to empower women working in informal waste management systems.
Related Articles and Resources
Play Video WIEGO's Gender & Waste Project in Brazil
In this message for the Urban Thinkers Campus, WIEGO Waste Specialist Sonia Dias and MNCR waste picker leader Madalena Duarte explain the relevance of the Gender and Waste project for the empowerment of both women and men waste pickers.
Book 1: Theoretical Considerations on Gender, Empowerment and Waste
Book 2: Project Design, Tools and Recommendations
Book 3: Resources
The tools used in the workshops can also be downloaded separately.
Gender and Waste Recycling Toolkit: Exercise 1 - Icebreaker
Exercise 2: Awareness of Gender Relations - Ping-pong Activity
Exercise 3: - Autonomy Tree
Exercise 4: - Discussing Gender Roles
Exercise 5: - Workshop Evaluation
Waste has Worth — and So Do the Women Working to Collect It
A step-by-step guide to building empowerment among women waste pickers By Sonia Dias and Ana Carolina Ogando Women across the globe share an uphill battle to break through glass ceilings and social stigmas in achieving equal wealth and...
Read MoreDrafting and implementing a gender action plan
Workshops on communications and leadership skills, feminism, and public policies were conducted from 2019–2023, culminating in the development of the Lano Bonitas Gender Action Plan 2021–2023. The plan outlines ways of building relationships with other social movements and influencing policy change at the local and national levels.
Technical guidelines on how to engage in social media, which were used in building capacity on communication among women waste pickers in Brazil were also produced.
Play Video Weaving Webs of Knowledge, Action & Affection: WIEGO and Waste Pickers in Brazil
Women’s stories
Establishing greater autonomy among women waste picker leaders
Since 2023, the Gender and Waste project has involved women waste pickers in initiatives including climate change action and research, a meeting of women from different parts of Minas Gerais, a photo exhibition on Climate Change and Women Waste Pickers at a museum in Belo Horizonte and at the University of Sheffield, and building the capacity of the core group “As Bonitas” to continue steering the agenda of women’s empowerment within the Minas Gerais chapter of the MNCR.
Play Video As Bonitas – Women Waste Pickers in Action
This video, co-produced with women waste pickers from Brazil, traces the genesis of the Gender and Waste Project through the voices of the participants. It explains the methodology, tools and interventions of the project and the launch of the Gender and Waste Action Plan 2021-2023 drafted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
