Organized Rural Women’s Voices: Building a National Agenda was a meeting organized by the National Institute of Women of Uruguay in conjunction with several other national institutions, Ministries and social organizations. It took place on October 15th, 2015.
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Problems and Purpose
Organized Rural Women’s Voices: Building a National Agenda was a meeting organized by the National Institute of Women (INMujeres) in conjunction with several other national institutions, Ministries and social organizations. It took place on October 15th, 2015, International Women’s' Day according to a UN declaration.
The main purpose of the space was to discuss and establish an agenda of public policies for state agencies, together with rural women organized around issues of social equality and political organization. Workshops were organized around six themes defined in the organization space: Leisure and free time, Health, Work, Access to Land ownership, Participation and Organization, and Production. The resulting document was intended to identify the main problematics that these women face, as well as the proposals to overcome them. As a result, the organizers designed a document that constitutes a systematized presentation of the work carried out in the framework of the National Meeting. The final document was designed to give the widest dissemination of what has been done and to be used as a tool with specifically identified work lines that seeks to contribute in gender equality and women rights in rural areas [2].
In addition, to the events main purpose, it also provided a venue to introduce the "Somos Mujeres Rurales" Project (lit. We are Rural Women): a competitive fund for rural women’s development projects.
Background History and Context
The Assembly of the United Nations has defined that every 15th of October it commemorates the "International Day of Rural Women" [1]. Attending that date, and with a view to generating a common work agenda, on October 15, 2015 the National Meeting "Voices of Organized Rural Women: Build a National Agenda" was held, in the locality of Young, department of Rio Negro.
Organizing, Funding, and Supporting Entities
The activity was co-organized by various Public Institutions and the main civil society organizations linked to the rural women at the national level. In an effort to coordinate actions and optimize resources, the National Institute of Women and the National Directorate of Social Economy and Integration Labor Office of the Ministry of Social Development [INMUJERES / DINESIL/ MIDES), the Directorate General of Rural Development of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (DGDR/ MGAP), the National Institute of Colonization (INC), the National Employment Directorate of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (DINAE / MTSS), the National Commission for Rural Development (CNFR), the National Association of Rural Women [AMRU] and the Network of Rural Women's Groups of the Uruguay, convened organized rural women from all over the country.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The activity involved 139 women, from the 19 departments and representatives of 78 organizations and rural local groups. The main objective was to bring rural organizations and public institutions closer to needs prioritized by women participants in order to advance in the fulfillment of their rights.
Methods and Tools Used
The workshops were organized around the six thematic axes defined in the space of co-organization. Groups of 20 to 30 women were formed during the meeting to debate around: leisure and free time; health; work; access to land; production; and organization and participation.
Each workshop had a space of one hour and thirty minutes of work, structured from two dynamics. During the first hour of work the participants discussed their view of the topic, based on two triggering questions. From this exchange, in the final half hour they worked on the generation of an artistic expression that represented what had been shared in the groups. Also, each group designated two representatives to synthesize and present in the plenary.
In order to support the work and the subsequent systematization of information, the state institutions provided technical equipment for the moderation of the groups, the filming and support for the artistic dynamic. The information produced during the workshops discussion was recorded in order to achieve a faithful systematization of the voices of the women present.
For the purpose of constructing the final synthesis document, information was organized around workshops results, and also re-organizing the information in those cases when some different aspects emerged that were linked to another axis of work.
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
The activity began with an opening table conformed by representatives of the organizing entities and institutions, departmental and local authorities. Subsequently, a postmark was presented in homage to rural women by the National Mail. The day continued with a workshop space, plenary exhibition and the launching of the call "We are Rural Women" (DGDR / MGAP and INMUIERES/ MIDES). At the end of the evening an artistic show closed the event.
It should be noted that during the workshops, there were addressed some problematic aspects that affected multiple life and work settings for rural women. Those appeared as crosscutting challenges, namely: access to mobility and transfer, access to credit and incompatibility between care responsibilities and the exercise of other rights.
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The main results from each workshop include: Leisure and free time, Health, Work, Access to land, Participation and organization, Production.
There are difficulties for women to exercise the right to free time. In the case of women producers, there is a high load of working hours not just for production but also for house work. The proposed conducting workshops related to the right in free time and leisure and the promotion of realization of collective activities of women. There are very few recreational activities and offers for the use of free time for rural women.
Transportation to other locations is difficult for rural women. This problem affects the access to leisure resources, but also participation in spaces like the Table of Rural Development, an important meeting that enables women to participate in different strategies of agriculture policies. It was proposed to design transportation strategies and mobility to allow access to leisure offers, to productive life, to participation spaces and to have better job options, focusing on improving collective transport frequencies, routes conditions, and also the implementation of driving programs for women.
There is a shortage of spaces and places where to hold meetings and gatherings by rural women. It is necessary to take advantage of available premises and infrastructure already existing in rural areas, such as the premises of rural schools, municipal halls, the departmental boards, etc.
Psychological isssues caused by violence based on gender it's not recognized as a health issue. It was proposed to address the issue of violence in health care, as well as the implementation of mobile service interventions for victims of violence in isolated rural areas. Another health related problematic is the lack of access to medical services. It was proposed to promote the establishment of doctors in rural areas and provide ambulances for cases of emergency.
The participant women also identified a lack of adequate attention in rural areas, around childbirth, the prevention of adolescent pregnancy and the right to tubal ligation by the single consent of the woman. It was proposed to train operators and put emphasize on the work in adolescent pregnancy prevention with a gender approach and disseminate the regulations in relation to tubal ligation.
Change cultural patterns that are assigned to ages that limits access of women to employment, it was noticed that age appears as a limitation to access work positions during younger ages. It was proposed to generate awareness-raising instances for employers to achieve a fair distribution within the family household. There are difficulties for access to land by young people, without family, and that young women they are the most affected. It is proposed to prioritize young people in the calls to get land.
The participants identified limitations for women to get jobs, frequently the work of women are given to their male partners, and when the man is unemployed or dies the woman is out of work. It was also pointed out that the salaries of women are smaller than those of men who do the same job, and that woman perform household tasks that are not remunerated. It was identified that employers prefer to hire men to perform tasks of strenght. It was proposed to generate instances of awareness raising for employers.
Despite having some meeting spaces and be identity as a collectivity, there is still poor visibility and recognition of rural women as workers. It was proposed to generate more meeting spaces between rural women and institutions linked to rural problems, they also pointed out the need for support to develop communication channels and the organization of encounters. They also pointed out the lack of support to form work cooperatives. It was proposed to inform and raise awareness of labor rights and to generate more guarantees when exercising those rights.
Culturally constructed roles, overburden women in reproductive tasks, limiting their personal development. They proposed the generation of comprehensive policies that address the importance of caretaking.
It was noted that in the selection process for land assigment priority is given according years of experience in the field, aspect that is not stimulated in women who are encouraged to study more years and take on family care. It is proposed to make flexible policies and adapt the selection requirements for the case of single-parent homes headed by women, also prioritize women as beneficiaries and assess their training process.
There are still prejudices that hinder the participation of women, nowadays it is still questioned that women are absent from the house. It is observed that this vision is preponderant in the north of the country. It is proposed that both women and men promote the participation of women; that there be more work in gender with technicians from the north of the country; that women participate and fight against stereotypes and prejudices; and the formation of women's groups to strengthen participation and exchange.
Carryout economically feasible projects for women. Promote projects among women that are profitable and that generate a real income. Sometimes these projects do not recognize time and effort that it takes for women to participate in the spaces, this generates conflicts and frustration in women. Also there's a lack of training programs in agricultural production for women.
Generate productive projects that are accessible to rural women and prioritize the access of women to productive supports. Women have a scarce access to technological resources and tools. The projects do not allow the purchase of animals do not allow women to access tools. The isolation of women in rural areas makes it difficult for groups to access to projects. A more adequate focus of the calls is proposed, as well as the development of production support projects that allow the purchase of machines and animals.
Recognize the contribution of women to production, promoting the integration of their value planning and productive decisions in projects, family farms and productive groups. It was identified that there is an absence of recognition of productive and reproductive work from women. Women identified that they have a different look on production, and that they're able to perceive needs where men usually do not see them. It was proposed that women be integrated into the design of the production process.
Women don't have access to credits. It was noted that the requirements for resources excluded women who do not have legal backing or guarantees. It was proposed to generate soft loans to support women productive initiatives, and the modification of legal and formal requirements to formal loans.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
Part of the work ahead is bringing together not only the main difficulties faced by rural women, but also the proposals that they made in terms of agenda. In the other hand, the objective is to have instruments to disseminate the results, aimed at both social organizations and public institutions, so that they can identify the areas in which it is necessary to advance in a better implementation of citizen rights for rural women.
Consequently, there’s a document that has been conceived as an input that is expected to allow the public institutions and civil society take knowledge of the demands, needs and proposals prioritized by rural women, to then propose and report on current and future actions in this regard [3].
For their part, state institutions and civil society organizations have agreed to continue their participation in different workspaces set up for the organization of the National Meeting of Rural Women, through the promotion, monitoring and spreading of both public and private actions. In this sense, the signatory institutions and organizations have assumed the commitment to:
Continue their participation in a space for dialogue between state institutions and civil society to follow up the lines of work proposed, during the period 2015 - 2019. Work to give the widest dissemination of the final document among public institutions, civil society organizations and rural women. Encourage and promote the development of active policies from the state and from civil society for the attention of the work lines. And finally, report every October 15, during the administration (2015 – 2019), the state of progress and actions suggested according to the respective major work lines.
See Also
References
[1] See http://www.un.org/en/events/ruralwomenday/
[2] Documento Síntesis. Encuentro Nacional Voces de Mujeres Rurales Organizadas: Construyen una Agenda Nacional. Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, Ministerio de Desarrollo Social. Uruguay. 2015.
[3] Documento Síntesis. Encuentro Nacional Voces de Mujeres Rurales Organizadas: Construyen una Agenda Nacional. Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, Ministerio de Desarrollo Social. Uruguay. 2015.
External Links
http://www.un.org/en/events/ruralwomenday/
https://www.latinno.net/es/case/18107/
http://www.inmujeres.gub.uy/58031/dia-internacional-de-las-mujeres-rurales
Notes
Lead image: Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, https://goo.gl/PyW9Tc