Breathe
By Gina Gutiérrez
My name is Ana, Yoalli, Rosa, Elena, Maria, Yólotl, Laura. I am 17, 25, 33, 48, 56, 64, 72 years old. It doesn't matter where I live, I am a woman of the countryside.
It's 4 AM, the alarm clock hasn't gone off, but I don't need it anymore. Every day I wake up at that time, and the routine begins. I put on something warm, shoes and leave the house trying not to make noise. The cows have to be milked and the chickens have to be tended to. My consolation is that I know that milk and eggs are good for me and my family. I'm already hungry, I want a coffee or a chocolate, but we have to clean the pens and leave food for all the animals. I take a walk around the field to see what I can harvest at that time. There's not much because the weather hasn't helped and the small family garden hasn't yielded much because we haven't had any water from the municipality either. It hasn't rained. I go back home and look for more ingredients, because we have to prepare breakfast and what the children are going to take to school and, if there is time, there has to be time, to start preparing lunch.
The children are still asleep, but I've started making noise while I clean the house to wake them up, because we have to get ready to take them to school. An egg, a glass of milk and beans. Others are not so lucky, they don't even have breakfast. Let's go! school is far away. I just hope it's worth the effort of the daily routine.
I go back home and we have to go back to see the cattle, check that they have water and that they still have food, if not, we have to give them more; and with how expensive everything is... We have to go back to the fields, we also have to work the land, help it as much as we can to see if, at the end of the season, we have a good harvest. Without rain it looks difficult, although that helped to reduce the number of pests, but the fields need water and, as there was not enough to buy fertilizers, I do not know what is going to happen.
My name is Ana, Yoalli, Rosa, Elena, Maria, Yólotl, Laura. I am 17, 22, 33, 48, 56, 64, 71 years old. No matter where I live, I am a woman of the countryside. A woman who works every day to try to survive in a world dominated by men, because I can't own land and if I help in group harvests, I don't get paid because the one who "manages" my money is my husband. I have to work in the fields "with" him if I am married, or "with" my father or my brothers, but I know that it is not "with" them, but "for" them; or I work alone because my husband is not around, for whatever reason, but the little I earn is not for me. I work in the fields, but I also do housework and raise my children or my siblings. I work in the fields, but I am not taken into account.
This is the reality of many more women than we imagine and not only in Mexico, but all over the world.
In every event where there is talk of closing the gender gap in the field, the same thing is always said; we must recognize, make visible and value the role of women in agri-food systems because their contributions are fundamental, but I believe we do little to ensure that women have more opportunities and that inequalities are truly eliminated.
Last year, SADER estimated that 6.8 million people work in the countryside and, in the most recent commemoration of Rural Women's Day, the Secretariat detailed that in our country there are one million women who work directly and indirectly in the countryside. There are many women who have no choice but to work in the fields, either because there are no other work options in their communities, because they do not have the training to take other jobs, because they are forced to do so, or because if they did not, their families would have nothing to eat.
My name is Georgina (Gina), I am 38 years old, I am single, I have no children and I also work in the fields. However, I have many more privileges than my female colleagues. I know that. I also live in a man's world and I have had a hard time opening doors, breaking down walls and making my male colleagues see that I have a lot to contribute to the field. I have worked and prepared myself to assert my name, my knowledge and my presence, and to stop being someone's daughter, sister or granddaughter, as much as I am proud to be part of my family. I am already me, but it has cost me too much and I know that I cannot, not even for a second, show so much vulnerability, because all around me there are bulldozers ready to run me over if I get careless. The men in my family backed me up and that has given me strength, but they can't do that everywhere I go. It is sad and infuriating the reality of so many women who, in no way, would have the support of the men in their families because they are also victims of violence.
My friends outside of work always share positive things about my work, struggle and dedication, they appreciate the drive I have because they don't see any women around me who team up with me and that provokes a mixture of feelings charged with impotence, because at the same time that I feel pride because I have come far, I feel anger that not all of them have the same opportunities.
We recently started a campaign called #PorNuestroCampo. Our first request is that the voice of producers be heard, because those of us who work in the countryside should have a place at the table where decisions are made that affect the way we produce the food that reaches your table. The voice of women who work in the field must also be heard because, although the field faces challenges that other sectors cannot even imagine and we must make them visible, as I have already said, women producers face a much more complex situation. The lack of access to financial and technological resources, infrastructure and basic services, remuneration for work inside and outside the field, basic and technical education, as well as violence and insecurity mean that valuable opportunities are lost for our countryside to be prosperous at all levels and for everyone, and that not only does it produce the food we need every day, but also empowered women who contribute to the nutritional security of their families, communities and our country.
I invite you to follow our efforts and get to know our campaign, because to see #PorNuestroCampo is to see for our producers, men and women throughout Mexico that we want to continue feeding them all. Join us and you will do something #PorNuestroCampo and our women, because from there will come many leaders of the farming community who will be happy to tell their personal story and feel proud to see for the future of Mexico.
I am a woman of the countryside and I want to tell you that in every furrow of our land and in every dawn, we rural women work not only to produce food, but also for a more just and equitable future. #PorNuestroCampo is a call to recognize, value and support our contributions, so that today's work translates into opportunities and empowerment for generations to come. Join our cause, because together, men and women, we cultivate change and harvest a more prosperous tomorrow for all.
*Gina Gutierrez
5th generation dairy farmer
Community Director at Global Farmer Network
Milk Ambassador for Global Dairy Platform
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
More than 150 opinions from 100 columnists await you for less than one book per month.
Comments ()