The women protecting mangroves and defying chauvinists

The guardianas fought drug dealers, fly tippers – and their own husbands – to build a thriving eco co-operative

Joanna Moorhead

A head of the small boat, as it bobs on the waters near La Paz in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, is a long line of old plastic bottles strung together on top of the waves. Under-neath them are as many as 100,000 oysters, waiting to be sold to the upmarket hotels down the coast. Cheli Mendez, who oversees the project, pulls a shell up from below, cuts it open with a knife, and gives me the contents to try: a plump, tasty oyster. Mendez is one of a group known as guardianas del conchalito, or guardians of the shells. It is, she says, the first oyster-growing business in the region run entirely by women. But this is far from the only success this group of women has…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 21 March 2025

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