There is sufficient evidence that there is a quiet and strong surge of energy happening among rural women in the past decade. As women organize themselves into self-help groups, they are quietly but surely regaining their self-worth. Their families and their communities cannot help but notice this process of breaking through barriers which have been there for centuries. Rural women speak of this process of breaking through in various symbolic and sometimes poetic ways. " It is good to see the sun once more ... "... "We are getting stronger like the oxen we tend... " " If felt I was in a deep well, and after training I have been able to see the sun and have found the steps to climb out.... "
As change agents we have witnessed some of this process of breaking through - rural women's emergence from the shackles of poverty. It is perhaps one of the purest joys of a change agent to be part of this process. These brave and creative women have transformed us as well. We have drawn strength and wisdom from them.
This Manual in many ways is the story of their lives. We have documented a process and designed tools which these rural women said helped them. The organization, the write-up may be familiar to those who work in similar fields, but the soul and the spirit of what this Manual contains belong to the many rural women not only in China but those in Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who taught us what it means... really means to break through barriers.
It is our hope that this Manual will find resonance in others who have grappled with approaches to articulate rural women's own process of emergence to self-empowerment.
Our most sincere appreciation is hereby expressed to Mr. Jacques du Guerny. Chief, Population Programme Service (SDWP), FAO, Rome, for his continuing technical guidance in this WPD work.
Felicidad L. Villareal
FAO Population and Rural Development Adviser
Beijing, China
March 26, 1995
