Rural Women Engaging in Innovations and Empowerment

How exciting! There was a one and only session on agricultural development and rural women's empowerment. Deb and I were really displeased to find there wasn't enough sessions on agriculture and women. Especially when you look at the facts: 70% of women run farms throughout the developing countries. Women hold farms and families together as they are the very tapestry that push their communities forward. Women are amenable, innovative and willing to accept change. Women are driven to improve the future of their children and will do whatever it takes to create livelihoods for their families. If you don't believe me, take it from the President of the WFO. He stated and stressed the significance of women's roles throughout the agricultural spheres in developing countries. Growing up on a farm he understood that family farmers are a lot stronger than farmers that are run under corporations.

There is a big difference with your product and your work when their is a personal connection to your "labor of love" as opposed to a "9 to 5" where you are not invested nor connected to the work that you do. And yet, knowing the imperative roles of women to advance agricultural sectors, women still face unfair circumstances. Women are facing disadvantages on several areas: no access to ownership, no access to credit, low education levels and not participating in leadership positions locally. So how do we encourage women to be entrepreneurs? How do we assist women to access the tools they need to innovate and strengthen their agricultural production and get access to markets? We know the challenges, but it is time for us to trouble shoot the solutions. But how? Some recommendations offered were pliable; "Listen to women, encourage women, give women a chance to be heard, include them as a group." A really enthusiastic one: "Talk to women or men to become entrepreneurs." Even to "Inventory their assets and skills." Quite an ideal approach, yet it is not enough to make simplistic suggestions. Especially when not every culture and country shares the same context. Women need to know just how important they are, and through identifying positive deviants provide them with the tools, skills, knowledge and attitudes to take leadership might be a real agent of change. We need to push, not just talk; transform knowledge into real social justice.

Women from different parts of the world came to speak about their productive business ventures. They discussed their approaches to innovations and new practices they were taking on to enhance their production. There was Rose Akaki from Uganda, who created a profitable honey production plant. She shared the positives of her venture and images of her family that assisted her. There was Adela Noris, a rancher from Argentina, that had a massive ranch and produced cattle for the Argentinian market, yet was distressed because she was prohibited to exporting beef to the US due to Argentinian regulations. Then there was Mildred Crowford, who specialized in Pig artificial insemination. And she talked about her being the only woman in her field and during the first years of her training, she received some push back from the male community.

One common trend that the women all shared was their will to advance, and their ability to work with men and women. Another major theme I am seeing is women's need to speak up, and stand their ground. We are often easily dissuaded by partners, family members, friends and communities to acquiesce. One thing these women showed me was their inner strength to never give up, never give in and to keeping holding on to what they believed in. The creation of livelihoods is so imperative, because through income generating activities women can access empowerment. I see empowerment through economic development. This is a time where we need to call on new methods, different strategies, encouraging fellow passionate people, and plugging in innovations to provide opportunities. Many economists to social scientists will argue that capitalism is not the answer, yet the welfare state is not enough either. Where can we find common ground? If one model is not working, we must realize there is never a 'copy-paste' solution. No 'one size fits all' approach, nor one framework that will address the issues of various countries, governments, private sector and civil society to enhance economic viability and strengthen the participation of women. Clearly there is much more that needs to be done to provide access to capital, so that women can actually become real stakeholders in the development of their communities and enhance their economic opportunities through viable business ventures at the rural levels and urban. This is a discussion that should be continuing and I will return with more highlights. What I do know from my experience is that we must sit with them and listen to their needs. We have different stories and experiences, at the same time we can relate to each other and support one another from one country to another. Rural women are also members of our global community and they should be included in plans for achieving the MDG's and post 2015. So which leads me to the question: Where do we go from here in supporting women entrepreneurs in the agricultural sectors who will be providing food for the majority of the world in the years to come? How do we engage them and address their needs? This is a discussion that must come to light, soon if not later, but it will come.