Pallaqueras

Lucy recounts having seen a donkey slip down a steep slope while carrying sacks of ore. Having lost its balance, the animal rolled down the valley among stones containing traces of gold. In that place work the pallaqueras, women who manually select minerals from the waste of the tunnels where men operate. According to Andean beliefs, the presence of women in the mines brings bad luck.

Peru is one of the world's leading gold producers, and artisanal and informal mining represents a source of income for many communities, despite precarious conditions. The sexual division of labor is clear: men work inside the tunnels, while pallaqueras collect and select the ore, occupying the lowest level of the hierarchy. The material is then crushed and subjected to quimbaleteo, a process that uses mercury and poses serious risks to both health and the environment.

Beyond the dangers of their work, pallaqueras face family responsibilities and difficult social conditions, including economic precarity and fragile relationships. Despite this, they develop forms of resistance and collective organization. Many work to ensure an education for their children, seen as a path toward change; they build support networks and establish the first women's associations.

This reality reflects a broader system in which capitalist accumulation, patriarchy, and colonialism intersect. As highlighted by Beck (2000), risks are distributed unevenly, affecting the most vulnerable populations, while benefits concentrate in wealthier countries, favoring the Global North at the expense of the Global South.