To conclude in a few brief lines a subject matter whose scope encompasses millions of women, men and children on a continent in full transformation is a difficult task. An attempt is made to salvage the main ideas which arise from this document submitting the conclusions of each chapter to the reader.
The first item that is interesting to highlight is that there is nothing less real to talk about than the "rural woman". The lives of women in rural Latin America and the Caribbean demonstrate great social, economical and cultural diversity. To refer to the ''rural woman" obscures this diversity, and it is more appropriate to speak of ''rural women".
The life of rural women certainly depends on her sex but is always deeply marked by a historical and socio-economic context.
Over the last 50 years, within the Region there have been very accented changes regarding the rural population and the agricultural sector: growing urbanization, decreased E.A.P. (Economically Active Population) dedicated to agriculture and the contribution of the agricultural sector to the total GDP.
The population in Latin America and the Caribbean today is largely urban. However, while some countries continue being quite rural, in others rural population is minority.
The urbanization process in the Region was developed impairing rural living, favoring the urban life style even within the rural areas.
During the crises and the so-called "lost decade" (19801990), the agricultural sector was less affected than other sectors. Although this is related to a certain absorption capacity of the agriculture sector, it is also important to highlight that significant quantitative and qualitative developments were produced in some subsections, and particularly with nontraditional exports.
Despite the above, the Region's agriculture sector has 8 double-facet characteristic: one modern and developed while the other is rural and poor. Its differences not only are due to the amount of resources they manage but also due to its productive logic and entry to global society.
In terms of future development, adequate profits in production of exportable, agricultural goods are foreseen, particularly tropical and subtropical nontraditional products, the production of temperate climate fruits and vegetables and the extraction of natural, renewable forestry and fishery resources.
Notwithstanding these encouraging points, there are some worrisome signs. For example, the poverty existing in the country and cities. The poor are principally urban but the population suffering from extreme poverty, or in other words, the destitute, live mainly in rural areas. Added to this there is a strong concentration of land ownership which has not been resolved by the Agrarian Reform programs. Furthermore, the distribution of land among those who do in fact own it is very unfair and is, to a great degree, comprised of small farmers. Another unfair matter is the distribution of training access, new technologies and credit.
Together with the land redistribution policies there should also be considered training programs and those of technology transfer and credit which would enable rural people to obtain adequate levels of production profits.
Rural women in Latin American and the Caribbean are multiple and diverse; they are everywhere and they work as mothers and agriculture producers but they suffer, under specific manners, from an illness that is very proper to the feminine condition which tends to affect women: the "invisibility."
In effect, the economic participation of rural women is underestimated in the official information sources therefore generating a vicious circle of an inferior registration in which at least the following factors intervene: Measuring criteria, instruments used, organisms and officials responsible for measuring the country's economic activity and, in many cases, women themselves.
In agreement with what happens with the E.A.P. of the Region, the feminine E.A.P. that is dedicated to the agriculture has decreased during recent decades. However, at the same time, to a certain degree, the total agricultural E.A.P, is becoming more feminine since women are taking charge of the family farms.
The role that women play in agriculture of the countries varies, and is significant in countries such as Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Peru. The percent of economically active women who conduct agriculture-related teaks seem to follow the trend of the country: they are greater in countries where agriculture is more important. However, it is difficult to extract conclusions based on information which has already been shown as impartial.
Rural women perform multiple productive roles: they are unpaid family workers, paid temporary workers or permanent employees in the agricultural environment for national consumption or destined to exports, travailing salespersons and artisans in the informal sector of the economy.
Estimates from the International Labor Organization (I.L.O.) for 1988 indicate that the Region was made of: 32.5% of women were helpers in their families, 20.9% were self-employed, and 44.5% were paid workers. According to these figures, the activity that was most important to women is paid labor.
The incorporation of women to paid employment is associated with the economic decline of the rural families. In poor homes there is a growing dependency on the income that women provide. It is particularly important in seasonally labor-intense areas and where the activities are agro-industrial related. For example, women attained a 70% composition of the work force related to flower growing in Colombia; 60% of the strawberry production in Mexico; 40% of the tobacco work force in Honduras, and 52% of the banana workers in Jamaica.
Women are present in various productive activities, but their working conditions still remain extremely precarious. Despite their important involvement in the seasonal work force, this is not their access to a permanent employment. In Chile, for example, women comprise 52% of the seasonal work force devoted to fruit growing. However, only 5% are permanently employed workers.
Likewise, paid employment to women in agro-industries is characterized by the lack of social security and other benefits, as well as salary discrimination when compared to men, although this is not a general rule applicable in all countries.
There is a question that is difficult to answer: does rural women's incorporation, albeit due to family financial problems, become later a personal need for autonomy among the women?
Trade is another activity performed by a good portion of rural women and constitutes a relevant contribution to the total income of the home. There are differences between the commercial activities of men and women. Women conduct a larger number of transactions, yet selling minor items (generally products which result from their exclusive work), they have a limited action sphere and their sales tend to equal less monetary value.
Due to cultural and legal barriers related to the "invisibility" of women and which are shared by the different social actors - rural men and women, and officials and financial institutions as well - women are not considered as agriculture producers. Therefore, they conduct their productive efforts in an adverse context having scarce access to land ownership and credit options.
Culture reinforces the legal barriers and many times the law is replaced by customs; this is coupled with the fact that rural people and officials possess a general unawareness regarding the law. Therefore, the Agrarian Reform programs have defined the "head of the houses" as the beneficiary party which in real life translates into the "man" of the house becoming the owner of the land, although this is not explicitly specified.
As is with the majority of women on the planet, women in rural Latin America and the Caribbean develop productive activities simultaneously with their domestic tasks. In rural areas, women face much more severe conditions than those living in urban environments, often with little family assistance therefore they must add productive work which causes them to have a double and sometimes triple work day.
Despite this harsh reality, the changes necessary regarding equality among the sexes currently enjoy a more favorable condition, which is quite different from what happened in Latin America and the Caribbean some 50 years ago. This is mainly due to the notable broadening of educational coverage. However, such expansion has not been spread equally and there are specific differences between the rural areas and the cities.
It is worth noting that even in the country in Latin America and the Caribbean the idea that women should also be educated is taking root, unlike ideas of years passed. The fact that today access to education is related to the area of residence of the citizen rather than a gender factor constitutes a social progress. Consequently, the differences of educational levels are greater between urban and rural women than they are between rural men and women.
An important consequence in this cultural change in families is that, due to improved educational levels attained by women in the formal education system, training projects oriented towards young women have a greater chance of success. A priority goal should be the professionally training of the young, rural women with sights set on improving their entry to the productive sector and above all on preventing their migration to the cities.
It should be mentioned that it has been difficult to reach the aforementioned conclusions due to the fact that the available information regarding the rural women's access to the formal educational system is insufficient. Therefore, this point is very important to be analyzed from the census of the '90's and planning of the following ones.
The access of rural women to training and knowledge and the use of new technology is limited; therefore they are hindered in their efforts to becoming first rate workers. However, over recent decades progress has been made in the Region concerning this matter. Traditionally, rural women were offered courses which emphasize home improvement, but currently various countries are also offering them productive projects and in some cases, there are programs which are clearly oriented to equality between the sexes.
What should be done in the future is clear. There are many training program experiences oriented to rural women that were conducted by Non-Governmental Organizations and public institutions. The still pending challenge ahead is to take advantage of these experiences in an attempt towards mass initiatives which comprise the different elements of a comprehensive focus: consideration and respect for the rationality of the rural women themselves and the time they have available; strengthening their personal and organizational development, and technological incorporation by gradually incorporating these elements to their daily work.
The family is the main center of attention among rural women. However, it is much different than what it was. Today, Latin American and Caribbean families have fewer children and their birth rates have significantly decreased. While in 1950 women averaged having 6 children, today the average levels at 3.4 children. There are less children per family although annual births increased from 7 to 12 million for that same period. This translates into a relevant increase in the population in most of the countries.
The Regional process of decreasing the birth and mortality rates has been different depending on the countries which are found in different phases known as "demographic transition". While some countries - Bolivia and Haiti - are in an "incipient" stage, others-Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Chile, Cuba, Guadalupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Uruguay- are currently in an "advanced" stage.
Although generally the demographic transition is related to urbanization, the direct relation between these two factors is not the cause of such a phenomenon since some very rural countries are in the advanced demographic stage and others that are relatively urban are in the first stage of demographic transition. This suggests that other factors, besides urbanization, influence such transition; for example, socioeconomic and cultural factors.
The differences of the demographic transition are observed even within the countries, according to social groups and geographic locations. Due to the fact that the transition begins in the more affluent sectors of the community and then spreads gradually to the remainder of society, the differences are greater in those countries experiencing the first stages of transition.
It is important to highlight that rural women in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to have, on the average, more children than urban women. This does not consider the lower registration related to abortion which could be higher in the city. However, some of the rural women expressed that would have liked to have fewer children than they did have. This could indicate that the higher birth rate in rural areas in some countries could be related to the lack of family planning methods and sex education or that the idea of a smaller family is growing. From another point of view, this could be due to the declining living conditions in rural areas.
Rural women do have more children than do city women, but the infant mortality rate continues to be higher. Scarce economic resources within the families, the precarious hygienic conditions in the home, the still low educational level of the mother and the existence of cultural standards regarding the origin and treatment of diseases all contribute to the health-illness factor of children. To this, the higher fertility rate in these areas must be added, since an important number of the births originates from risky pregnancies. An in-depth study is recommended regarding production models which combine a high incidence of family manual labor, minimal handling of agro-chemical substances and a high degree and supplementary vegetable and animal association, in light of their contribution to better nutrition rates of the families and lower infant mortality.
According to estimates based on the behavior and the current birth rates, the Region will achieve a new fertility rate (2.1 children, as an average) during the second decade of the Twenty First century. However, countries going through incipient and moderate transition stages will have a time difference of around 10 years. In light of this, the extension of family planning programs could be a determining tool in reducing fertility. To the contrary, the current fertility trends in rural areas indicate that fertility will remain at levels greater than urban areas for many more decades. All are reasons to motivate rural family planning.
The estimates for all of the Latin American and Caribbean countries indicate that infant mortality will remain high in rural areas. The spreading of coverage of health services and massive vaccination and oral rehydration programs along with reduced births should be considered as a means to decrease the same.
Despite the persistence of demographic differences between rural and urban areas, one of the most important changes in rural areas is related to the family size and structure: on the average, just as was previously indicated, rural women have fewer children than before and in the majority they have formed smaller families. In some countries, there are more families of this type in the country than in the city.
Rural families in Latin America and the Caribbean are predominantly small, but there are many larger families. Their existence could be in response to the survival of poor rural families rather than to a choice of family style.
The female household head in rural areas is a phenomenon which has been sparking growing interest in those who study and plan this topic recently. The information for some countries reveals that between 11% and 19% of the rural homes are lead by women, but it is also a more typical occurrence of urban environments.
There is a close relationship between poverty and feminine leadership intervened by the inequality between men and women in their entry in productive activities. For this reason, if it is intended to decrease the intergenerational transmission of poverty the women home leaders must constitute a priority group to be addressed although it might not be on the same level as that in the cities.
As seen above, the structure of the productive relationships within the rural families is still based on labor divisions which are fairly gender and age governed and the man assumes the decision making and family representation. The different social actors, including not only men, women and children, but also the organisms and institutions which act in rural areas, have internalized productive roles that are gender differentiated and ranked, a fact which must be considered in any action designed to improve women's entry in productive activities and also the family operation. To reverse this order would require that women themselves question this fact; however, supplementary actions with the other actors must be considered.
As it has been indicated, women are actively involved in family production and contribute a good portion of the family income. However, they enjoy scarce involvement in farm administration and the decision making regarding production. This, from a gender perspective, bears greater importance, for which equality does not consist in women's participating in the work force which they have always done in some manner, but on their having autonomy and power.
Rural women's involvement in social organizations is also rare, particularly when it deals with administrative levels. Various factors affect this, all of them are interrelated in a vicious circle: little interest from women to participate, overload of domestic tasks that leave them with little or no free time, and cultural standards that relegate them to their domestic role that they tend to copy outside the domestic arena.
Over recent decades, women's organizations have emerged in various countries as well as feminine departments in federations or rural unions. However, there are no statistics available indicating how many rural women participate in the organizations.
Qualitative studies stating the organizations' opinions, indicate that there are faults and their diagnoses tend to be similar. They indicate that the fact that women are involved in organizations has produced favorable changes for them personally, in their family and in the community. The most outstanding ones are changes on a personal level since the family and the community are also considered as obstacles to their participation. This would imply that progress has been made in this regard, but there are still cultural standards which relegate women to their domestic tasks. Autonomy would appear to be a very important aspiration for rural women which is also reflected in their wish to be independent from the government and political parties.
The hindrances are not only related to external factors. Women who participate in the organizations mention failures in the forming of new leaders which brings about a low turnover on leadership levels. To this are added communication problems between the leaders and their membership and among members pertaining to different communities.
Women who belong to organizations propose demands which coincide with the aforementioned concerning their entering productive activities. These are centered on land ownership, technical assistance, training, transportation problems, marketing difficulties and access to credit. In other words, those elements which enable them to generate their own resources and obtain better management power and autonomy.
From all of this, it may be concluded that actions geared towards strengthening the involvement of rural women must consider global actions which include not only the women, but also their families, the other organizations and the community as a whole.
Generally, all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have discriminatory legal provisions towards women which affect those living in the cities and in the country. Such discriminations are not defined in the Constitution but in civil and labor laws, and for rural women, in the agrarian norms.
Discriminations towards rural women particularly affect their entry in productive activities - which generally prevents them from being sheltered by protection norms that some countries grant to working women - and their access to land.
Furthermore, the provisions concerning the possessing of and administration of the goods in marriage make it hard for women to have their own capital which will exclude them from accessing to credits thereby limiting their opportunities for improved performance as agricultural producers.
These problems have been considered by some countries where they have introduced, or are considering introducing, amendments to legislation, particularly in reference to accessing land ownership and credit.
In rural areas there is not only sex discrimination against women but also ignorance with respect to the law by both the farmers and the officials responsible for enforcing it. Customs constitute a parallel type of regulation which reinforces women's subordination. For this, legal amendments must contemplate a wide spreading of the law in the rural community as well as intense training programs for the officials including gender contents since, definitely, they are the ones who directly influence the enforcement and compliance of the law.
In the majority of the Latin American and Caribbean countries, the importance of approaching the problems of urban and rural women is recognized and has been expressed by the creation of public organisms specifically devoted to these subjects. Furthermore, some ministries have formed assistance and productive projects directed to rural women. However, there is still much difficulty in introducing the topic of gender in macro-social programs where the lack of information regarding rural women and the lack of awareness of the officials with respect to this topic play an important role.
Regarding the non-governmental organizations (N.G.O.) it is observed that, although many of them work with rural women the majority work with urban women thereby expressing favoritism to urban areas which is characteristic of the Region. Given that the N.G.O.s depend heavily on external financing, it is recommended to establish relationships with the N.G.O.s as well as with the financial agencies so as to foster initiatives geared towards the improvement of rural women's conditions in the Region.
Another important recommendation is to take advantage of the N.G.O.s experiences which, although they are not numerous, they are very interesting, and if they are well systematized they would imply intervention standards that may be reproduced on a larger scale by public and private organizations.
Today, more than ever, all changes will vanish if the environment is not respected and held harmless. Latin America and the Caribbean have many, diverse natural riches which coexist with critical environmental problems that take on different forms in different countries. In rural areas, these problems would be more due to economic development strategies based on indiscriminate exploitation of resources rather than to rural population actions on natural resources.
The economic modernization processes have caused heavy damages to the environment and human health, the above being related to factors such as growing deforestation, monoculture extension and the indiscriminate use of pesticides in agricultural production. There are many references made implying that this prevailing model coexists with sustainable agriculture practices carried out in isolated rural communities in many countries throughout the Region. In this regard, it is recommended to conduct a specific study which would identify more sustainable production alternatives which have been tried by communities in the Region and which could be used as a grounds to generate policies in this matter.
Literature has repeatedly defined the rural woman as a fundamental axis in sustaining the environment due to her role in family maintenance and direct contact with natural resources, and this is probably true. This would not be due to her sex rather to a millenary process of teaching and learning which has been passed along from generation to generation usually verbally (at least until recently).
Even when the bibliography referenced does not record many instances of specific actions taken by women in order to preserve the environment, one must not ignore those low profile labors, those that are not registered, those that are carried out on a daily bests in many countries of the Region by rural men and women, that are somehow focused on environmental preservation. A few of these are: the preservation of seeds and the handling of medicinal plants. Urban societies have to learn more about the rural societies while education must be directed to both sexes.
Definitely, the problems that currently face rural women in Latin America and the Caribbean are basically culture related. In order to tackle them, there must be supplementary, systematic and constant lines of action centered on causing an awareness of the gender aspect. These must be geared to both officials and public organizations, and rural men and women. Now, an adequate awareness cannot be separated from material actions which improve family production and income. The optimum interventions must unite productive efforts under a cultural view of equality among men and women.
