Indigenous Women & Sustainability

Lourdes Lucila Saavedra Pilco is an Indigenous Peruvian woman and farmer who always wanted to be educated but did not get the opportunity when she was younger. Now aged 43 she has learned new skills in sustainable livestock farming, that not only responds to climate change, but also provides her more economic autonomy as a woman. In Spanish, she says:

“I was the first woman [from my village] to go to Lima to do business with my livestock. … [People said], ‘You’re a woman. You’re not going to be able to.’ I loaded my cattle in the truck and I went to Lima. Women can work. We can do business. Starting with me, many women have also become leaders.”