Carmen Quintanilla: “More and more women who want to engage in rural areas”

Carmen Quintanilla is the president of AFAMMER (Confederation of Federations and Associations of Families and Women in Rural Areas). The group was born in 1982 with the goal that “rural women are no longer invisible and that their voice is heard in all national and international forums to achieve the challenge of real equality of opportunity,” according to its website. She combines the presidency of AFAMMER with tenure as deputy of the PP in the Congress of Deputies. Its activity in recent decades as a promoter of the improvement in activity of women in agriculture makes it one skilled in the art. Now answers questions to e-Comercio Agrario. She recognizes that “the progress of rural women entrepreneurship is slow, both in Spain and Latin America” ​​but was pleased that “women who want to engage in rural areas are becoming more”.

eComercioAgrario.- Afammer is the association that defends more active and more visible way the right to equality of women in rural areas. What is this ray of conquest in Spain in the European context?

Carmen Quintanilla.-As stated, AFAMMER is the leading and pioneering organization in Spain and Europe of associations of rural women since he was born 33 years ago, when nobody talked about rural women and their rights. Throughout these more than three decades, we have ensured that all political agendas and talk to women in rural areas are taken into account. One of our demands was to be given a prominent role to women in equality policies and rural development as they are the foundation on which rests the maintenance and future of the peoples of Spain and Europe in economic, social and cultural.

Thanks to the voice of AFAMMER, which is the voice of rural women, both governments and institutions: European Parliament and Council of Europe have understood the importance of putting women in rural areas in the foreground and consider policies aimed rural women as priority. When women disappear from rural villages these people end up disappearing. This a fact evident both in Spain and Europe and therefore is crucial to plan ahead counting rural women as key actors of development.
Among all the achievements, one of the most important in Spain has been, without doubt, the Shared Ownership Act. With this law, Spain became the third country in Europe, together with Belgium and France have a law that gives women the opportunity to be co-owners of farms, although it is now necessary to promote and implement new measures that encourage greater response to this standard by women.

Indeed, promoting shared ownership across Europe was one of the recommendations included my report on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe “Rural Women in Europe”, which were patent differences between the 47 member countries of the Council and that its conclusions reflect the need to continue putting in place by governments to improve women’s access to land, access to the labor market, promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship, promoting the presence of rural women in decision-making and the fight against gender violence in rural areas it is surrounded by more silence in the urban world.

Another achievement has been the development by the Government Plan for the Promotion of Rural Women, which brings together a number of measures to improve the lives of rural women, promote their entry into employment, promoting entrepreneurship and self-employment, reconciling work and family life, etc.

ECA.-Their demands  know no boundaries. Within the UN, you have put in value the role that women play in the development of peoples. At what point is the development of entrepreneurial rural women in Latin America.

CC.- Progress entrepreneurial rural women is slow, both in Spain and Latin America. It is true that women who want to engage in rural areas are increasing. In Spain, for example, there are many, very prepared, young women before they left their villages to look for a job opportunity in the city and because of the economic crisis, have decided to mount a small business or enterprise in the place that I was born. They are usually small companies dedicated to complementary agriculture and livestock sectors: rural tourism, handicrafts, processing of local products, local services, hairdressers, beauty salons, etc …
But if being an entrepreneur in Spain in rural areas is difficult, it is even more in Latin America because of the obstacles that women of Spanish rural areas, which also must be said face, have grants and incentives put in place from the Government to help them take that first step and undertake in Latin America is more complicated.

If Spain is necessary to promote female entrepreneurship in Latin America it is even more. Women entrepreneurs are a resource until recently somewhat untapped, if you pamper and care is, without doubt, a source of wealth and job creation in rural areas. In the case of Latin America the problem that women face is more cultural than economic and legal. According to a recent World Bank study, between 55% and 91% of business activity in Latin American women are within the scope of the informal economy is difficult to make the leap from the office fruit stand fruit by instance.

Women in Latin America have entrepreneurial spirit and most of those who decide to set up a small business makes it more because they see a possibility of doing business themselves than economic issues. In fact, for example, in Colombia, 26.9% of men have a small business against women, with a ratio of 16.3%, which shows that women are entrepreneurs but have difficulty undertaking to Because women tend to have less education than men and because women still have a lower visibility in society, which remains strong macho dyes, which causes them to have difficult access to credit because, though it may seem unusual for example, in Spain, in Latin America women are not accustomed to going to the bank and bank employees are not used to treat women.

50% of women in Latin America engaged in an economic activity, as I said before, in the majority of cases informally and, therefore, it is necessary to work on strengthening the entrepreneurial spirit to seize the potential of women in the sector Business for small and medium enterprises in Latin America. In this regard, I want to highlight some initiatives such as the “mentoring”, that are proving successful. Through this practice, it brings together women who want to engage with people who already have extensive business experience and can guide them in the adventure of creating a business.

ECA.- Precisely  in New York has been proclaimed the roadmap derived from the Declaration and Platform for Action. Women have won the right to vote, to work, to hold public office, they will not discriminate, but what remains for them to be even more critical in building the XXI Century?

CC.- Political Declaration arising from the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women held last March at the UN in New York that have been reviewed achievements in the twenty years since the the Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing + 20) has made it clear that, indeed, progress has been made in equality but that this progress has been slow and uneven in different parts of the world. Women have not yet reached sufficient levels of empowerment in many parts of the world and yet 20% of the world’s countries have not legislated on equality.

While we keep talking about that 70% of people living in poverty in the world are women; that women produce 70% of food but own only 2% of the land they farm; that of the 58 million children without access to primary education are girls and 31 that thousands of women are victims every day in all kinds of violence, we can not talk about that we have reached equality.

It is shown that few higher levels of equality and empowering women achieve greater development of the territories where they live occurs. This shows that women are already, in themselves, essential for building the future. What is needed is to get women to have access to land ownership, employment, financing, decisions and stop being victims of violence. Only then can we ensure that the future of the XXI century is equal for everyone.

ECA.- Afammer this year has organized the First International Congress “The Voice of Rural Women in the World” What is your assessment according to its main conclusions?

CC.- The First International Congress “The Voice of Rural Women in the World” was a milestone in the history of AFAMMER. We have been able to gather around this international gathering more than 1,100 women from all over Spain and from around the world, officials of the highest level since the inauguration we have the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy; Assistant Secretary General of the UN and executive director of the Population Fund United Nations, Babatunde Osotimehin; President of the Regional Government, Maria Dolores Cospedal and Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality, Alfonso Alonso and a roster of speakers from Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America.

The assessment, therefore, can not be beat. Not only by the quality of the speakers and their statements but also the proposals that came out of this meeting which I would emphasize the need for legal measures and policies aimed at improving are put in place by governments situation of rural areas and promote equal opportunities for women in rural areas. We also came to the conclusion that it is necessary to implement specific funding to promote employment and entrepreneurship of women in rural areas and promote awareness campaigns and measures to legal and judicial level required to end violence against women.

All conclusions and proposals will be included in the White Paper on Rural Women in the XXI century we are developing and we’ll get to all institutions and national and international organizations. I also noted that Congress has funded through contributions from major Spanish companies, with their sponsorship, have demonstrated their commitment to rural women.

ECA.- We are a online medium and we inform about agrobusiness from two perspectives: the European and Latin American. How can e-Comercio Agrario help the business of rural women from both continents?

First, I would like to welcome e-Comercio Agrario, wish him every success and thank you for AFAMMER have received their first public appearance. As for how you can help the business of rural women in both continents I predict that the role of the digital media will be very important and I would also say that your input is very well received by the large family of AFAMMER.

Entrepreneurship is one of the best choices facing women in rural areas have a job opportunity and, therefore, the more the enterprise is encouraged from all possible means, women who wish to undertake what will be easier. ECommerce bet is a result of the commitment of this medium with rural women bet for which the information is paramount when it comes to take the step to take and, above all, information on line, which can be accessed at all times and continuously updated.