Women in the urban poor and fishing sectors most adversely affected by the government’s neo-liberal development policies and programs that prioritize corporate interests in large infrastructure projects over human rights and environmental integrity. From the high cost of privatized housing to the “double labor” of women fisherfolk, whose essential economic contribution remain unvalued by the government, the impact of systemic neglect is profoundly gendered.
The Rodriguez landfill tragedy and the threat of forced displacement for waste-to-energy plants in Smokey Mountain represent a flagrant disregard for the lives and labor of the poor. They refuse to falter but collectively struggle to demand their rights to livelihood, basic services and from economic dislocation. Their resistance is a direct challenge to any definition of “progress” that necessitates community displacement.
