There can be no genuine agrarian reform, without gender equity

Reflections on the “Land, Territory and Dignity”  Forum, a parallel event of Social Movements/NGOs/CSOs  to the International Conference on Agrarian reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), held in Porto Alegre, March 6-9, 2006.

By: Carmen Buena, Chairperson
       Catarina Estavillo, Secretary General
       AMIHAN, National Federation of Peasant Women – Philippines

The forum brought together about a thousand participants, mostly coming from countries in South America. Asian participants was about 30, with three women from the Philippines, two from our organization, Amihan, and one from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

Laid down as objectives of the forum were:1) give an expression to the real struggles of social movements for natural resources, land, water, seeds, fishing grounds, forests;2) present proposals from the perspective of food sovereignty on issues related to Agrarian Reform and Rural Development; 3)make visible the repression and violence in the countryside and present strategies of resistance against criminalization of our struggles; and, 4) question the current development model.

The forum carried six central themes: 1) principles and recommendations for a genuine, integral and original agrarian reform based on food sovereignty; 2) concepts of land and territory; 3)strategies and tactics for occupation, recovery and/or defense of land, territories, forests, fishing grounds, housing, etc.; 4)gender, generations and youth; 5) resistance to privatization, counter agrarian reforms and the neoliberal policies of access to land and other resources of the World Bank, governments and other actors;6) resistance to the dominant model of production and development; and 7) resistance to repression, militarization, military occupation, “war on terrorism,” and criminalization of movements.

We became active participants in two workshop organized under the gender, generations and youth theme: 1) women and land rights; and 2) gender and youth.

In the women and land rights workshop, we were able to share the situation of peasant women in the Philippines, our current struggles to attain genuine agrarian reform, and our limitations and our victories so far. The political killings in the Philippines have gathered a lot of  sympathies from the the workshop participants. So much so that it merited a space in the report to the plenary. From the sharing of women from other countries, especially the indigenous women, we’ve learned a lot of similarities in our conditions. The voices of the women are still not heard and the men still hold reign. It was disheartening to hear how landlords in these countries molest the children of poor peasants, and they go unpunished. We had the impression though that our forms  struggles and tactics in the Philippines, are more militant and developed. And that the level of  our organizations, more advanced. We’ve heard so many stories for example of indigenous communities that were driven out of their lands, or of peasant families displaced from their lands 

In the gender and youth workshop, we shared the work programs which involves not only setting up organizations of peasant women, but also peasant youth. Also we shared, our campaigns and initiatives towards creating more liveable and sustainable rural communities, where women’s views and decisions are heard.

We participated in the drafting of the women’s statement for the conference which partly read:

“ The countryside is a place to live and we want to have decent conditions to live in. We want to promote new values in the rural areas which are ending up chauvinism and which allow new relationships between women and men and also between young people and adults and between human beings in general. We want women and young people involved in decision making of the entire production, transformation and marketing process of agricultural products. We also want them to take part in decision making process within farmers  organizations but also in society, in political parties and governments.”

The final statement of the forum, presented to the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), have sharply presented the women’s position:

“We recognize the fundamental role of women in agriculture and fishing, and in the use and management of the natural resources. There can be no genuine agrarian reform without gender equity, thus we demand and we commit ourselves to ensuring that women receive full equality of opportunities and rights  to land and natural resources, and that past discrimination against rural women and the social disadvantages they have faced be redressed. “

Apart from our participation in the workshops and in the plenary sessions, we joined the Women’s March for Agrarian Reform, held to coincide with the celebration of the March 8, International Women’s Day. Worth noting is the manner and conduct of their march-rallies.The march was arranged in two single files occupying opposite ends of the road. The march is done with  occasional chanting and sloganeering. Huge banners and streamers, so characteristic of Philippines or for that matter Asian rallies and demonstrations are markedly absent. At the final destination and venue of the rally, a few speeches were made, no fiery speeches though, after which the crowd was then dispersed, in an organized manner.

Language was a problem as always in huge international gatherings such as this forum, and more especially for grassroots women like us. The simultaneous translation into English, Spanish, French and Portugese did help, but as English was not also our first language, a lot we believe got lost in the translation. We would have wanted to discuss with the grassroots women we have met, but it was practically impossible as they do not also have a command of the English language.

Overall, we think that we have made our presence felt in the forum. Comparing our experiences, we have come to appreciate and value the work that we have been doing back in the homefront.