Abstract

ALBERTI-MANZANARES, Pilar. Contributions of rural women to knowledge of medicinal plants in México: Gender analysis. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2006, vol.3, n.2, pp.139-153. ISSN 1870-5472.

This article presents the wide knowledge that women have about medicinal plants and uses they have given them to cure the most common illnesses in the municipality of Santa María Nativitas, Tlaxcala. Botanical studies with a gender perspective highlight the different ways that men and women have of relating to natural resources. It is important to show women's wisdom regarding medicinal plants, but it is also important to point our that there are women who know about timber-yielding and commercial plants, just like there are men who are healing men and midwives. It is concluded that there is no need to label men and women into traditional roles in regards to their knowledge of plants, but rather that it is important to detect and value the contributions that both genders bring to botanical knowledge.

Keywords : Botany; rural development; traditional medicine.