Participation of women in local governance and their influence on adaptation strategies to climate change in rural areas of Puebla, Mexico: a case study of Cuetzalan del Progreso

This thesis examines how the participation of rural women in local governance influences the formulation and implementation of climate change adaptation strategies, using a qualitative case study of Cuetzalan del Progreso, Puebla, Mexico. Grounded in Feminist Political Ecology and Community-Based Adaptation frameworks, the research draws on twelve semi-structured interviews, Participatory Rural Appraisal methods, participant observation, and secondary sources, developed in partnership with the local NGO Tochan Nuestra Casa A.C. With the initial hypothesis of how the inclusion of women in governance could result in more long-term efficient and sustainable strategies, the findings reveal a fundamental paradox: indigenous women possess extensive ecological knowledge and have developed an effective, four-dimensional adaptation framework based on food sovereignty, water management, ecotechnologies, and solidarity economy, yet they remain systematically excluded from formal governance instruments such as the Ecological Land Use Planning Program (POET) and the Committee for Comprehensive Territorial Planning (COTIC). This exclusion is sustained by interconnected sociocultural, economic, and institutional barriers, while women-led spaces such as Tochan Nuestra Casa and the Masehual Siuamej network function as parallel sites of learning and empowerment. The thesis concludes that women's influence, though transformative at the household and community level, has had limited impact on formal climate policy, and suggests the institutional recognition of care-based knowledge and gender-responsive governance.