This dissertation presents the results of a research about the women participation in the work that is done in rural areas and as well as in the local community movement. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to understand the meaning of the labour activities carried away by these women and also their insertion in those movements. It was also pursued the verification of the effects resulting from the changes that have been taking place in the labour world regarding this category of workers as well as the understanding of the meaning attributed to their activities. The study analises considered the perception that women have about their daily life and work, as well as the building up of their dreams and perspectives for the future. The site chosen for the research was São Sebastião do Paraíso, a city located at the south of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where they have nine associations of rural producers. Using a qualitative research metodology local women aging between 26 and 77 years old and employees of institutions related to rural producers associations were interviewed. The final analyses suggests the existence of a female category in that area formed by not only rural landowners but also by other women that sell their working force in addition to their work at home. This study observed an inner relation between the work cared on inside and outside their homes, independently of their financial situation. With regards to the participation of the same women in the community movements of the rural producers associations it was possible to verify that there is still missing a way through the real social equality between men and women, despite the fact that some progress was detected in their insertion in the community movement.