This is a CTP of initiative: La Via Campesina/RMRU (Uruguay)
One of the facts that best reflected the gender inequality experienced in the rural sector in Uruguay was the low level of access to ownership of land held by women. At the early 2000's, only 17% of the familiar exploitations enumerated by the National Institute of Colonization (INC, in it spanish initials) had a woman as an owner.
This gender bias also occurs in associative experiences, where women systematically have less access to land ownership in the rural sector, less access to the use of fractions, and less access to control of land and production. Faced with this situation, in 2014, the INC sought to strengthen and guarantee equal rights between men and women in access, use and land tenure.
This is why the Board of Directors decided to implement joint ownership in the new leases, that is, that both members of a couple become the unit of subject of rights and obligations, both spouses must sign the leases. This resolution marked a Key change in the trajectory of the RMRU and recognition of his work for years. The references of the organization emphasize especially the importance of this measure:
"It seems administrative, but it was a significant change in access to women's rights, because it allowed access to other available tools such as financial credits provided by the Ministry of Livestock"
The resolution that establishing co-ownership is the result of a long process in which rural women's organizations (mainly the Rural Women's Network of Uruguay -RMRU, in it spanish initials- and the Association of Rural Women of Ururguay -AMRU, in it spanish initials-) were positioning the problem of gender inequality in rural areas. In this way, a process of co-production can be observed between the mobilization capacity of rural women and the changes in the legislation that incorporated part of their demands:
"Gender discrimination and the social invisibility that rural women suffer in our daily lives remain two of the main obstacles for social and economic development to reach the rural milieu. We recognize and are aware that we have advanced, but there is still a great way to go. We always say that many of the problems we face can be solved by guaranteeing women's economic autonomy that would help prevent violence in the countryside, for example.
Women and rural youth play a fundamental role in building a new social model, sustainable and sustainable in the countryside. To cite examples of our impact on the new decree of co-ownership that at the end of 2014 was unanimously approved by the National Institute of Colonization."
The agricultural sector in Uruguay (in the period 2004-2014) experienced an expansion based on increasing external demand and international prices of various commodities (soybean, forest products, wheat, barley). These results are compounded by the influx of foreign direct investment, which resulted in the successful expansion of agricultural and forestry production.
At the same time, the situation of rural women at the beginning of 2000 was very serious since they were one of the social sectors most affected by the crisis that affected the country in 2002. Thus it is possible to affirm that in that period they were in a situation Of greater vulnerability and poverty than their male peers, marking an important inequity.
In 2005, the Frente Amplio assumed the national government for the first time, in the framework of a series of political changes in several Latin American countries, thus beginning a "progressive era" in the region. In relation to agriculture, for Uruguay this administration proposed among its first measures to equalize the rights to collective bargaining between urban and rural workers who had been historically delayed in advancing labor legislation throughout the twentieth century. Although most of these policies focused on improving working conditions and employment, there was also a set of social policies of national coverage such as the National Plan for Attention to Social Emergency, the new system of Family Allowances, National Integrated Health System, and the tax reform that eliminated the tax on the lowest salaries, among others.
These redistributive public policies that have allowed equitable access to universal basic rights - work, housing, health, education - of all inhabitants of the territories. In addition to generating conditions and capacities to enjoy valuable rights such as eight hours of work for wage earners, their unionization, establishing rural wage councils, promote access to drinking water. All the results of processes induced from decisions of national governments, which would not have been possible with the rule of the rules of the market. In this context, the RMRU established its first international links with other Latin American organizations and other regions of the world, strengthening its influence in the definition of public policies. An example of this was its influence on the decisions of the National Institute of Colonization.
The resolution of the National Institute of Colonization came within the framework of a strong campaign developed by rural women's organizations. The references of the RMRU denounce the inequalities suffered by women in rural areas:
"We found significant inequalities at the regional level and many gaps in women's access to different instruments such as credit and subsidies. In these conditions the role of rural women in agricultural production and food is not recognized "
"We need to be recognized as producers and guardians of native seeds: we are defenders, fighters and transmitters of these knowledge that preserve biodiversity."
Therefore, the claim for co-ownership is a mechanism to ensure access to land and forms of production that allow "to choose what to eat, us and our family."
Likewise, the RMRU argues that there is a dichotomy between doing and saying, since "there are processes of policy formulation that end up not being assertive or not implemented as planned since the lack of participation of rural women in the design . That is why we recommend ensuring the participation of civil society in all stages of policy development, implementation and monitoring.
"Despite the resolution of the INC, it continues to question systematic obstacles due to the difficulties of access to land, credit, technical assistance and training, tools and productive infrastructure, non-recognition of national production And unfair competition in markets."
The problems that led to the sanction of the resolution of co-ownership were part of the agenda of rural women's organizations and public agencies on gender issues for more than 20 years. The influence of the RMRU strengthened the presence of the problems of rural women in the policies promoted by the National Institute of Colonization.
In the years prior to the adoption of the resolution, additional problems such as the resistance of the men of farming families to prevent the adjudicated lands from being inherited by their spouses, daughters and sisters in the inheritance process became visible.
Therefore, it can be affirmed that the public policy in which this CTP is centered had been anticipated and promoted by the rural women's organizations and even by different public organisms of Uruguay.
This CTP was the product of a learning process experienced by members of RMRU and other rural women's organizations about their "right to have rights", based on their access to information and the development of strategies to counter inequality and Discrimination they had historically faced.
The experiences developed show a possible virtuous circle, between the leadership of women in the defense of their rights and the incentive to their participation in participatory spaces. All this constituted for rural women and small towns a learning process of public affairs, more information and a space to participate in decision-making.
Based on achievements such as the resolution of the co-ownership of the INC, enabled the creation of new challenges such as: achieving women's applications to the calls of ministerial projects; Empowerment of women within productive establishments; Deepening mechanisms, use and implications of co-ownership; And leadership of women in organizations and participation spaces.
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