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Programs to improve the situation of working women in agriculture

Land Center held its training workshop about the rights of rural women, on International Women's Day, on last March 8. The workshop was attended by 31 participants from NGOs, local councils, lawyers from different governorates of Cairo and Sixth of October and Helwan, Giza and Dakahlia, Qaliubiya, Menoufia, Gharbeyya and Beheira and Upper Egypt governorates of Fayoum, Beni Suef, Qena, Sohag, Minya and Sohag. The number of women who represent assemblies was 11 women among attendants, where the workshop has included three sessions.
The proceedings began by the first session, entitled "Women of the judiciary .... to the field of negative discrimination and double standards." The session was headed by Dalia Omara, the coordinator of the workshop, where she had welcomed the attendees. Ms. Omara then spoke about the subject-matter of the workshop, explaining the selection of this timing to organize the workshop; in celebration of International Women's Day. Ms. Omara referred to the serious breaking news of the general assembly of the chancellors of the State council, recently, pertaining to women's right of being appointed as a judge, in a setback for women's rights in law and the Constitution. We find that the elders of judges refuse women's work in judiciary, in the general assembly of the chancellors of the State council, where the justifications of the refusal that there are many difficulties facing the work of the Egyptian women in the judiciary, because it is a huge burden and have a negative impact on family life, which is the basis for building a healthy society.
The question raised by the land center, where the workshop was held to answer it, was: Didn't the elders of judges understand the difficulties faced by Egyptian women of different sectors and environments, especially in rural Egypt in their work different and exercising under compelling circumstances without legal protection to cope with life burdens that men can't bear?? Leaving her young children and her house against her will, in order to provide them a living may just not go beyond filling the hungry mouths?? Aren't a lot of simple women working without any warranties or insurance or any guarantee of their rights of any kind? Are these the values of equality guaranteed by the Constitution and the law and international conventions signed by Egypt and became part of the legislation??
Was not it better for them to give their support to women, especially those working in agriculture, especially as the law had excluded them from protection, while being in most need of redress at all levels; legal, social, cultural, and economic levels? Do not these women need to be protected, to ensure their rights in the Secure and decent employment, health care and social development?
The first meeting included many speakers; Ms. Farida El-Nakkash, president of the forum for Women's Development, and editor of the newspaper people; Mr. Abdullah Ma'mon, school headmasters, and human rights activist.
The first speech was presented by Ms. Farida El-Nakkash, who presented a paper entitled "Women ... from the field to justice." Ms. Farida began her speech by defining the International Women's Day, where the idea of International Women's Day started by march by the U.S. women in the streets of New York on the eighth of March 1809, when demonstrators carried bread and roses, and demanded reducing working hours and stop child labor, giving women the right to vote.
Now, after 200 years on the demonstration of "bread and roses, and although progress has been made in the field of women's rights; injustice and discrimination against them is still going on everywhere.
She also referred that March 16 is the world day for Egyptian women, when 4 women fall down as martyrs against the British occupation. Therefore, Ms. Farida emphasized the idea that women do not consider men as the enemy, but rather the socio-economic political system is the opponent, and not the men or masculine mentality. She clarified that this mentality are not present in the minds of men only, but is present in the minds of women also. It is a cultural mentality stems from a comprehensive culture of community that needs to be fought.
As for the issue of the appointment of women as judges and was raised on the light of the decision of the State Council, Ms. Farida said that Article II of the Constitution allows them to not assign women because of non-appropriateness, and she mentioned that the legal materials are not directed to the judges but to the legislators. She also mentioned the story of young Abdul-Hamid Sheta, who succeeded in the college of politics and economics with honors and applied for the State Department tests and passed all tests successfully, but was surprised when he was refused, where he was not fit socially. Therefore, this climate, which rudely distinguishes between citizens because of their social status, can produce the same sort of discrimination against women.
She mentioned it is strange that this will be the problem to be discussed in Egypt, where women have been appointed as judges in several Arab countries.
Also, she marveled that the Pharaohs, since thousands of years, have a goddess of justice called "Maat". We can see them have rigged women as goddess of justice, while judges, now, come to say not to give legitimacy of women for being a judge. Then Mr. Abdullah Ma'amon spoke, presenting a paper entitled "Women and the elimination of human rights and the rights of the elite," and began by noting the controversy raised in the political street and the Egyptian Cultural and women to ascend on the judiciary bench or not.
It is only an evidence of the imbalance in our thinking and our culture. He has made his thoughts through four points are:
• First: We are at the end of the first decade of the third millennium and still discussing the women's rights and a right to equality with men. We interpret the fact that women are lacking in intellect and religion in a way that makes us treat them as an object that is created to be ordered and obey.
• Second: The multiplicity of legislation that govern us and collision, which cost the same meaning of the word legitimacy
• Third: The timing of raising the issue is a matter of suspicion; while the Egyptian street is experiencing a state of political mobility that was newfound, and direction of public opinion to follow events and escalation if not active participation; at this time specifically this issue was raised to draw attention to a trivial issue of the wasted human rights crises. • Fourth: How many of Egyptian women care about such issues, which in spite of the vitality, seems marginal for the vast majority of Egyptian women.
He then turned to each point in detail, and ultimately confirmed that the majority of women in rural Egypt do not have the luxury to think of the judicial office. It is reasonable that women concentrate their effort to get a loaf of bread to maintain their health, before thinking of their rights in the judiciary. Also, it is reasonable and justifiable for elites and organizations civil society, political parties and all who care about this country, to focus on the efforts on the search for the rights of the majority of the Egyptian society, including women's' right in the life, liberty, justice, dignity. And to strive together for the right of women - all women - in Agouza and Zamalek, Mohandeseen, and Zefta, Mitt Mahmoud, Samalout- to ascend for office of presidency, not only judiciary.
The participants in the discussions stressed on the importance of the rights of citizens in the community, in their civil rights and economic and social rights, because discrimination against women is the result of government policies that violate the rights of all.
Events then began the second session entitled:
"Women in agriculture; violated rights and uncertain future"
This session was headed by Ms. Manal Tibi, director of the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights. She began presenting the subject and its importance, and referred to the lack of this group of women to the legal umbrella. This meeting has brought together a number of papers, where the first presented a paper entitled:
"The situation of girls employed in seasonal agriculture, rural workers in the seasons of harvesting or agricultural workers daily between the hammer and the anvil of poverty, social injustice"
It was prepared by Mr. Mohammad Hejazi Sulayem, Chairman of the Assembly of flowers for rural friendship. Hijazi illustrated the reality of rural women in general, and girls employed in the collection of crops and fruits in particular, and in particular in the vicinity of neighboring villages in terms of economic, educational, family and highlighted the difficult working conditions and the type of sectors in which they work and the nature of the business where the women and then was eventually submitted a number of proposals to improve their situation from the viewpoint of those involved in the activities of the Assembly.
She was the second is Alostadh / Dalia Amara coordinated the workshop has been presented a paper entitled:
"Rural women informal employment and economic and social conditions is low,"
And she started talking about the different categories of rural women and the nature of the various activities carried out by each category.
Then, she proceeded to talk about the social situation of rural women within the family, explaining that the situation of rural women in her family is characterized by marginal role in most cases
After that, she talked about the economic situation of rural women, pointing out that the situation of women in rural areas marked by low economic status in the processes of economic reform, which occurred in the conditions of the peasants. It raised the burden on the shoulders of farmers and agriculture together; these new economic conditions have led thousands of peasants and farmers to live in the lowest standards. And if the family can configure whether a surplus in the form of a new land, or any means of production, it is written on behalf of other men (husband or father), while women do not have any share of them. Customs and traditions state that women are not to access to anything, whether by possession or inheritance. It does not come until a stranger (and is not the daughter's husband) to participate male descendants
After that, she provided an overview of the main problems faced by rural women in particular in the work, which outlined as follows:
Discrimination in pay between men and women.
The absence of legal protection.
Lack of access to any leave.
To do a lot of hard work.
The burden of domestic work.
Lack of involvement of rural women in development programs.
Early marriage of females.
Then she spoke on the role of women in agriculture in the countryside and the return she gets in exchange for work, as it pointed out that women represent 48% of the volume of rural employment and make up 70% to 75% of the volume of work done in agriculture, you get only 10% of revenue, and about 71 % of workers in the agricultural sector do not receive any remuneration.
Finally, she provided some of the recommendations proposed to improve the situation of women in the agricultural sector in the Egyptian countryside.
The third paper, Dr. Osama Bedier Agricultural Research Center, entitled "Rural women between marginalization and empowerment"
He pointed out that if human resources are managed efficiently, it is one of the most important challenges and obstacles to internal barriers to the development process. Members must be aware of the interdependence between them to achieve their goals, and the interdependence of the social responsibility to each other, as well as towards their society they live in.
He explained that the impoverishment and marginalization are the major features of the society in the last decade of the twentieth century and increased their unit in the first decade of the twenty-first century; at the same time are the roots of the vast majority of the problems that plague the community, both in the economic, social or political. He also pointed to the existence of significant barriers faced by rural women in this role such as: --
High level of illiteracy, which resulted in reduced ability to acquire skills that help to acquire modern technology.
The husband's refusal of wife sharing in development programs.
Society traditions that does not allow the participation of women in rural development programs.
Lack of skills necessary to participate in activities.
The difficulties of balancing between their role in work and home, and as leaders of projects they refuse participation of rural women.
He also noted that the census surveys, or even the regular Egyptian labor market, follow traditional norms in dealing with rural women; they do not count for fixed rate workers in agriculture or services or in the industry, not included in the standards of rural women in small family agriculture or in other so-called agricultural crops for consumption or those involved in the informal sector or rural workers without pay, and when these standards fall this important women's employment, they fall recognition of their role in the agricultural economy as well as the fall of their rights to the society in which they live.
In the end, there were a number of recommendations that could contribute to modify and improve the current situation of rural women. The workshop also reviewed the paper professor / Aryan Nassif, Union of Framers under foundation, who confirmed that, in addition to the concerns of the agricultural labor as a farmer, many forms of suffers were added for women just because she is a woman:
- 71% of farmers women and farm workers do not receive wages for work, and receive a mere 10% of income.
- The rate of illiteracy among women working in agriculture (15-45) to 40.3% of the total of illiterates in Egypt this age group is also reaching out illiteracy among them in general to 71% may be growing in the Upper Egypt villages' level to 85%.
- Egyptian farmer woman is suffering - in the area of health - in addition to deteriorating public health situation in the countryside, it added many diseases associated with it, the pattern of life and work (e.g. birth at the hands of non-specialists, and diseases resulting from exposure to kerosene that is not complete combustion... etc.)
- Deprivation of any legal safeguards, where the Article 159 of the Labor Law No. 137 of 1981 provides for an exception of women in agriculture provisions. With the abolition of the Act and the enactment of Law No. 12 of 2003 (known as the Consolidated Labor Laws), care was taken to the text which at this strange exception provocative article 79, the full meaning of this denial of women working in the agricultural sector of any legal rights in the face of the risk of disability, injury, illness, old age and death.
- Psychological breakdown that accompanies forced to Egyptian agriculture defamation her young daughters and her children to migrant agricultural labor, as it is - in the absence of state control - Become a demand from contractors beings and ranchers in recent decades, focusing on children and girls of the cheap wages, all lead to the social and humanitarian disasters of this innocent flowers.
- Leakage of the basic education reached rates in Egypt to 300 thousand children a year, the largest proportion is sons of farmers.
- Deterioration in their health; the proportions of infecting farmers children with HIV red blood cells (anemia) is 55%, in addition to injuring more than 40% of them by diseases resulting from lack of calories and protein than what happens to them of poisoning by pesticides, or TB workers, including in the Jasmine farms without taking the supposed health requirements. - The loss of hundreds of them a year and Shipwrecked Members of dead or injured as a result of transport, which is non-human means of transferring them from their villages to work sites and during the return.
This was followed by an open of a discussion to attend and present and that participated in the formulation of some of the proposals and comments on the papers most of the participants also stressed the need to work together to improve the overall climate and the conditions of rural women in Egypt.
Then came the third meeting under the chairmanship of Dr. Abeer Badran, a teacher of Business Administration, entitled:
Programs and recommendations of NGOs to improve the situation of rural women working in the agriculture sector
Chairperson divided the participants into two groups, namely, the first group to get some of the recommendations for policy on improving the working conditions of women, especially in the agricultural sector, to be changed or modified to achieve a better and dignified life for women in the countryside.
The second group was meant to get some of the programs for various civil associations to support the rights of rural women.
There was meeting with each group in a separate session, to get out the recommendations and action programs, and then she met with two groups and each has presented its findings.
The meeting ended in agreement on several workshops in a number of different associations in Daqahlia, Elbahira, Qalubia and Gharbia and the sixth of October, Fayoum, Sohag, Qena, Minya, Beni Suef, Assiut, during the next six months to educate women in rural areas and improve the capacity of associations concerned with the rights of rural women, promote and support cooperation between the rural development association for ensuring the right to equality, safety and a decent life for rural women working in the agriculture sector. They have also been agreed to crack down on the level of the countryside and to support women's rights to equality, especially in the work and legacy of the great role played by women in the renaissance of our country, and to stop all forms of discrimination against women.
For more information, please contact the Center