Movilidad transfronteriza y cuidado familiar a través de los ciclos de vida: experiencias de mujeres comerciantes en el espacio Perú-Bolivia-Chile

This article aims to analyze the changes and continuities in women’s trading practices and care responsibilities in the trinational space between Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, examining how they articulate and negotiate their commercial and family roles at different stages of their lives. The central hypothesis posits the existence of regular patterns in the adaptation of trading and care practices according to the life cycle, arguing that participation in trade begins at an early age and intensifies when family responsibilities decrease. The study uses a biographical approach based on retrospective interviews conducted with 62 women traders from different generations in Puno and Tacna. The analysis employs the Ageven form to structure individual trajectories and an adaptation of the Lexis diagram to visualize generational patterns. The findings reveal how women develop adaptive strategies that vary according to their life cycles, highlighting the importance of intergenerational transmission of trading knowledge and the persistent tension between economic autonomy and reproduction of traditional gender roles.