feminist economics and food sovereignty: progress and challenges ahead

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Progress and Challenges ahead

FEMINIST ECONOMICS AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

Miriam Nobre Pacheco NobreMaysa Mourão MiguelRenata MorenoTais Viudes de Freitas

Bárbara Lopes

Monica CoronaAnaluce Freitas

Nucleo-i

FEMINIST ECONOMICSAND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

avanços e desafios

AUThORS

ediTOR

COORdiNATiON

deSiGN

Cover PhoTo Gilvan Barreto/oxfam

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2. PUBLiC POLiCieS

Policies to confront hunger and poverty

Public policies, programs and actions in Brazil to fight poverty

Public policies for rural women

Challenges faced by rural women in accessing the MDA public policies

The obstacles we still have to overcome

The struggle for equality

Some statements by women food producers

Acronyms

SUMMARY

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1. FeMiNiST eCONOMiCS,JUSTiC ANd FOOd SOVeReiGNTY

What feminist economics is

How to promote the sustainability of human life

What is the market logic in agriculture?

Dealing with the environmental crisis

The intricate food reality

The constant struggle for access to land

Promoting food sovereignty

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PhoTo Gilvan Barreto/oxfam

INTRODUCTION

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* http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cr-growing-better-future-170611-summ-pt.pdf

In Brazil, women have a strategic role in food production in family farming, which supplies 70% of Brazilian food consumption. Here as well, little production information is broken down by gender – the daily work of women is called help, sometimes by women themselves. The money resulting from the sale of their products is not seen as essential or even included in family income. What they produce to feed the family, even though it is on the table every day, is not accounted for as income of the property, nor even as family income.

The Grow campaign in Brazil gives priority attention to women, highlighting their role in food production and consumption, both in rural and urban environments, seeking to empower them to change the context and power relationships that make their work invisible and prevent them from realizing themselves as women and as “individuals.”

This research was conducted aiming to achieve this objective, in partnership with Sempreviva Organização Feminista (SOF), which we hope will contribute to questioning, rethinking and, ultimately, changing the imbalances in power relationships that prevent women from realizing themselves as human beings, especially with regard to those relationships related to food production and access.

OxFAM was created in 1942 in response to a food crisis. Seventy years later, the world faces another crisis – this time, a crisis that threatens us all. The 1942 emergency was caused by the Second World War. On the other hand, the current crisis is a product of a grotesque global injustice. Approximately one billion people face hunger every day, while the non-sustainable standards of consumption and production from which they are excluded put us all on a collision course with the ecological limits of our planet.

Oxfam’s “GROw”campaign has a simple message: another future is possible and we can build it together. Over the next years, decisive action around the world could help hundreds of millions of people feed their families and avoid having a catastrophic climate change destroy their future (and ours). However, this will only be possible if we, collectively, stop sleepwalking in the direction of ecological disaster. This campaign is a warning cry from Oxfam*.

The “Grow” campaign has defined an important gender approach by stating that women are essential players in the agricultural process, especially in family farming. This important role, however, is invisible, scarcely recognized or valued, as demonstrated by the data presented by several studies, and this Oxfam publication confirms them.

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FEMINIST ECONOMICS, JUSTICE AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

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Feminist economics, a part of feminist thinking, is a school of thought that, since the 1990s, has been established in the field of economic theory, based on criticism of the non-inclusion of women, their work and their economic action by economics. In its resistance to the market-oriented society, feminist economics was incorporated by women’s movement organizations in Latin America as a tool to analyze the economic reality of women and also to propose alternatives to the dominant model.

Giving visibility to the production of living and the work performed primarily by women made it possible to connect the reflections on and struggles of urban and rural women for transformation of the current model of (re)production and consumption.

One of the processes in patriarchal thinking identified by feminist theory is the creation of false dichotomies in the entire social field: between culture and nature, public and private, productive and reproductive work. In addition to the separation between these elements, there is a hierarchy and an assignment of roles to men and women. Thus, the space of culture, the public world and productive work is more valued and considered masculine. Women are responsible for the private space, of nature and reproductive work, less valued socially. The feminist concept of “sexual division of labor” may explain the connection and the hierarchy that society has established for men’s and women’s activities. This sexual division of labor is an ideological and cultural creation that allows the subordination and devaluation of work that has historically and culturally been attributed to women (domestic and daily caregiving work, all related to the “private” world or family life).

Neste processo, deu-se um aprofundamento de elaborações feministas sobre a economia, tanto em relação às experiências das mulheres em seu trabalho cotidiano, quanto na ação política para a transformação das estruturas da desigualdade.

In this process, there was a deepening of feminist thinking on the economy, both in relation to women’s experiences in their daily work and in political action to transform the structures of inequality.

Feminism questions this division, explaining the relationship between production and reproduction and criticizing the view that reduces the economy to the market economy. Private space and our personal relationships are also political and domestic and daily caregiving work is also part of the economy. The same can be said for agriculture: the work of women in vegetable gardens, yards and in the raising of animals is not recognized.

The family model in capitalism is an idealization and a myth. It is based on the principle that men are the providers and women are the reproducers. It is a myth because capitalism cannot do without the productive work of women. Even in families in which women do not earn salaries, goods and services are produced to meet needs. This is particularly clear at times of crisis: if there is unemployment, the home again produces goods (such as food and clothing) and services (care of children, the elderly and the sick). For example, as a country industrializes, women are also incorporated into industry and services. With their salaries, they begin to increase their purchases of market goods that were previously produced in the home.

whAT FeMiNiST eCONOMiCS iS

Human work passed, historically, through a process of division (productive work that produces goods or services with market value is performed by men; and reproductive work, taking care of living conditions, the domestic environment and children, by women) and hierarchization (masculine work is more valued than feminine). This process is seen as natural, based on the view of a woman as a mother who takes care of the home and family because of love.


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Because conventional statistics hide the scope of non-remunerated labor, they make it easier for public policies to be prepared and implemented in a way that ignores their negative effects on caregiving, for example.

The social organization of caregiving, whether between men and women, or between the state, family and market, explain a good part of the existing inequalities – of gender and class –, the reason for which a considerable number of researchers have dedicated themselves to building feminist economics.

The fact that employers and economic policymakers consider housework and caregiving as economic model externalities implies, concretely, that the costs of livelihood production fall on women, since they are not incorporated either by employers or the state, nor even by men in the domestic environment.

In addition, since there are no indicators capable of giving visibility to and measuring this sphere marked by inequality, construction of equality will not figure among the objectives of public policy.

Feminist economics, consequently, has sought to contribute to construction of public policies that actually break with the sexual division of labor and with the inequality between women and men.

Giving visibility to domestic and caregiving work in economic analysis is a central issue for feminist economics, since it is this work that ensures reproduction of the workforce. By ignoring this, economic analysis presents an incomplete diagnosis of the operation of the economic system and is not capable of evaluating the real repercussions of economic policies.

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Thus, work has occupied a place of importance in feminist studies, in an ongoing effort to unveil the mechanisms reproducing inequality in the social relations between men and women. At the same time, various women authors have indicated that the economic theory makes women and their economic contribution invisible. They also have seen the need to prepare new types of indicators, capable of overcoming the masculine benchmark to measure society’s quality of life.

The range of topics analyzed by feminist economics is wide and encompasses different aspects of women’s participation in the labor market, the problems with economic policies and their effects on the lives of women, the very definition of labor and the economy, the relationship between government budgets and the maintenance of gender stereotypes and inequality, the preparation of public policies guided by equality, and new focuses and methodologies for production of statistics, among others.

For this, a general criticism of the dominant economic thinking is proposed, emphasizing the need to overcome the dichotomous structures that restrict the economy to the limits of the market. Feminist

In Feminist Economics, we witness an effort to build a new paradigm, including new methodologies, explanations and indicators which are not based exclusively on social constructions of masculinity. It also means building bridges between public and private life, that is to say, between the productive and reproductive spheres

economics brings to the theoretical debate the belief that, to really question inequality, it is necessary to transform the structures that organize it.

If, at the origin of feminist theory, the criticism is that women are considered non-political subjects because they are relegated to the private world, in market society the feminist criticism is directed at the consideration of women as economic non-agents.

For feminist economist Amaia Pérez Orozco, women pass from non-political subjects to non-economic subjects. To the extent that they gain rights, the political sphere is devalued and more inequalities appear in the economic arena. The political demand for the right to vote and to have rights, for example, resulted in formal rights, but not necessarily in real equality. The same occurred with other groups unequal to white men, in the sense that “any privilege or right that becomes universal is a right that, automatically, is devalued”2.

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2 PÉREZ, Amaia (2005). Perspectivas feministas en torno a la economia: El caso de los cuidados. (Feminist Perspectives on the Economy: The Case of Caregiving. Doctoral thesis, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

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Individuality is connected to the fact that each person is unique, with specific experiences. However, as the author emphasizes, it is a relational individuality, since every man and every woman, with their specificities, relate to each other and interact in society. No one is completely independent of others or can get along without others, since there is a necessary interrelationship between beings.

Well-being is not reached by means of possessing goods or wealth, but by means of real capacities that people have to “develop positive states of life,” in the words of Carrasco, like being well fed, having good health, and participating in community life, among others.

The feminist perspective emphasizes that well-being does not involve only material resources, but also relationships of caring and affection that are needs satisfied primarily in the domestic environment. This perspective places in evidence the work of caregiving performed by women in the home, indicating it as essential for human development. Therefore, this is not a private issue, but one that has an important political and social

The concept of the sustainability of human life – or of human well-being –, as indicated by Carrasco, refers to people’s quality of life, including men and women, and considers them in an individualized, but not individualistic manner.

dimension because it is an essential element in ensuring quality of life. Consequently, what is at play is the proposal of a new guiding paradigm for society, which does not focus on private profit and loss and the market economy, but brings the concern with people’s lives and human well-being to the center of the discussion.

It is in this sense that feminist economics appears in contrast to the dominant economic thinking that hides women and gender relationships.

The dominant economics only considers the relationships where money circulates, such as commerce, the government and the market. In contrast, other topics, such as access to and distribution of income, land and resources, between men and women, appear within the scope of feminist economics, in addition to the development and proposal of public policies that lead to the elimination of gender inequality. In this way, feminist economics has been contributing with criticism of the dominant model of agricultural production and with construction of new paradigms, such as food justice and sovereignty.

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hOw TO PROMOTe The SUSTAiNABiLiTY OF hUMAN LiFe

Transforming the economy, for feminists, means shifting the focus of how the economy functions and the market analyses to livelihood production. This perspective makes it possible to go beyond the inclusion of women in a paradigm marked by market interests, by presenting a distinct analytical and political proposal for the economy.

In addition, it calls attention to the fact that women always perform activities in addition to housework and caregiving, whether through work in conjunction with other family members, such as harvesting, or by working longer days in factories or in agriculture. However, as Carrasco3 points out, work, both at home and outside it, performed by women remained invisible throughout the dominant economic thinking. Even though feminine work done in the domestic environment was recognized, it was considered natural, as part of the duties of women in the name of love and family.

However, it is important to emphasize that recognition of domestic and caregiving work as economic does not mean it is incorporated into the market logic. Feminist economics recognizes that this has its own characteristics, being deeply marked by a subjective dimension and the provision of part of human necessities.4 Therefore, the feminist proposal is the break with the dominant logic of valuing only what was considered productive, that is, what has monetary value.

Feminist economics, in its development, tries to recover the important economic contribution of women over the course of history. The denunciation consists of pointing out that domestic and caregiving work performed primarily by women is an activity essential for capitalist development, since it ensures human reproduction and, thus, reproduction of the labor force, having historically been provided by them free of charge.

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“3 CARRASCO, Cristina (2006). La economía feminista: una apuesta por otra economía (Feminist Economics: A Bet on Another Economy). In: Maria Jesús Vara (coord.) Estudios sobre Género y economia (Studies of Gender and Economics). Madrid: Ed. Akal. 4 FARIA, Nalu. Economia feminista e agenda de lutas das mulheres no meio rural (Feminist Economics and the Agenda of Women’s Struggles in the Rural Environment). In: BUTTO,Andrea (org.). Estatísticas rurais e a economia feminista: um olhar sobre o trabalho das mulheres (Rural Statistics and Feminist Economics: A Look at the Work of Women). Brasília: MDA, 2009, p.11-29.

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Over decades, agriculture has been completely directed toward obtaining growing productivity, aiming at larger profits. Both in Brazil and globally, this agricultural model called the “Green Revolution” has worsened hunger by making it difficult to obtain land, water and food, and has contributed to increasing inequality among nations.


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From the feminist perspective, the starting point for understanding inequality in the access to quality foods is looking at the process known as the Green Revolution, which has been altering the form of production in the countryside.

The countries of the Southern Hemisphere export their products to the countries of the North at low prices, relying on the intensive use of labor and the natural resources of their territory. Agricultural production for export has contributed to make the food producing countries exactly those plagued by poverty and hunger, while it enriches large landowners and companies in the richer countries.

Modernization and mechanization of agriculture, mainly starting with the Second World War, contributed to a type of development focused primarily on the market, a period known as the Green Revolution. In addition to machinery, use of chemical products like fertilizers and toxic agrochemicals began to occur. This modernization was seen by governments as a way to contribute to reducing the population’s poverty.

in Brazil, the period from 1960 to 1980 was marked by modernization of agriculture by means of an intensive process of industrialization. even though the Green Revolution was pointed to as a model to reduce hunger and poverty of the population, since it made possible greater production of food, it had other consequences. Given the large capital investment in the modernization of agriculture, only large companies and landowners

whAT iS The MARkeT LOGiC iN AGRiCULTURe?

– in addition to the financial market – benefited. Small farmers and their families were not able to compete with the large companies. The traditional knowledge and practices of these workers were considered “backward,” and were discarded or even appropriated by large companies even though they had no right to claim them as their own.

Starting in the 1980s, this policy intensified with the spread of agribusiness. As indicated by Campos and Campos5, agriculture and livestock activities were increasingly controlled by economic conglomerates that dominate all production and commercialization of food. This process reinforced the appropriation of natural and land resources by these large groups and their use as sources of capital accumulation. Thus, the decision on what foods to produce and commercialize was even more restricted to a few.

Currently, a small group of large companies control production, from production of seeds to sale of products. in 2006, the ten largest seed companies in the world controlled 57% of the commercial seed market. According the 2007 research by the ETC Group, Monsanto – the largest of them – dominated 20% of this market.

5 CAMPOS, Christiane S. Soares; Campos, Rosana Soares (2007). Soberania alimentar como alternativa ao agronegócio no Brasil (Food Sovereignty as an Alternative to Agribusiness in Brazil). Revista Electrónica de Geografia y Ciências Sociales, Vol. XI.

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natural gas, which harm the environment and release polluting gases.

In the same way, frequent use of fertilizers and toxic agrochemicals contaminates the soil and water, in addition to harming and eliminating a number of species of flora and fauna. Deforestation of forests also contributes to the release of carbon dioxide, and thus, to the increase in the planet’s temperature.

It should also be emphasized that the current standard of distribution and commercialization of products and food also leads to the increased emission of polluting gases. The way it is currently organized requires products to travel long distances to reach the large distribution centers, using a high number of vehicles that emit polluting gases. In the same way, consumers also end up traveling long distances to have access to and purchase products and food. In other words, it is a logic that both enriches large businessmen and leads to environmental degradation.

Thus, development of an agriculture directed to the market and control of the entire food chain concentrated in the hands of a few have contributed to worsening the conditions of life of small producers, peasants and indigenous people, increasing the dependence of farmers on external production inputs, reducing biodiversity, causing damage to the environment and harming the sovereignty and right of peoples with regard to food. The issue of hunger has not been resolved; on the contrary, the inequalities related to it have intensified.

In this sense, the debate around the food issue will soon be the order of the day, appearing as a challenge on the world stage. According to Chonchol7, the current debate is polarized into two main theses. On one side are those who believe that production growth will not be able to meet the needs generated by the way societies have been developing. Thus, for them, the demographic increase, higher standard of consumption resulting from enrichment of the population, environmental degradation (such as the loss of resources in water and land, desertification, deforestation, etc.) and

urban expansion, among other factors, place the productive system in check.

On the other side of the debate are those who believe that technological progress – such as biotechnology, the use of genetically-modified organisms and techniques to value and recover natural resources – and the progress of production systems, focused on the sustainability of resources, will allow production growth to adapt to the growing needs.

The fact is that the standard of consumption sustained by some developed countries makes any model of food production unsustainable, since, if the global population consumed the same amount as a citizen of the United States, five planet Earths would be necessary to satisfy the entire world.

In addition, this small group of companies that dominates seed production technology is the same as that which controls herbicide production. Thus, a company that produces a particular seed resistant to a certain herbicide forces farmers that use the seed to also use the herbicide that it produces, thereby controlling the prices and production of this entire chain.

The control of seeds by the companies has contributed to the reduction of the planet’s biological diversity. According to Febles6, it is estimated that in the 20th century there has been a loss of three-fourths of the species cultivated by mankind. Currently, only 150 species provide food for the majority of the global population, when previously 10 thousand species were used. The loss of biodiversity has also contributed to the impoverishment of mankind’s food.

At the other end of the food chain is its distribution and commercialization, also dominated by a small group of large multinational companies that end

up imposing the types of foods to be produced and consumed, as well as their quality and price.

Currently, the ten largest supermarkets are responsible for 24% of the global market. The first of them is Walmart (of the U.S.), which controlled 8% of this market in 2006. The supermarkets tell the producers what size, color, form and uniformity the products should have. Those that do not correspond to this standard are rejected by the supermarkets, thus, a large part of the food produced is discarded.

Domination of the food chain by large companies makes it very difficult for small rural producers to produce and commercialize their products faced with the unequal competition in the market. Many are on the edge of poverty, forced to abandon their production and land.

deALiNG wiTh The eNViRONMeNTAL CRiSiS

In addition to widening social inequalities, the development model based on expansion of growth and commodification of the social and life processes causes strong damage to the environment, which, in turn, leads to an upsurge of food poverty. The unchecked impulse to attain maximum productivity degrades and destroys nature, reducing biodiversity of fauna and flora.

One of its effects has been the contribution to the sharp increase in the Earth’s temperature, mainly due to the emission of greenhouse gases. These gases are released into the atmosphere in various ways along the food chain.

One of them comes from the regular use of sources of energy by the agriculture and livestock sector, mainly for its machinery, such as oil, coal and

6 FEBLES, Nelson Alvarez (2006). Las semillas en la tierra germinan y se multiplicand (Seeds in the Earth Germinate and Multiply). In: Ya es tiempo de Soberania Alimentar. Biodiversidad, sustento y culturas (It’s Time for Food Sovereignty. Biodiversity, Subsistence and Cultures). (compendium). 7 CHONCHOL, Jacques (2005). A soberania alimentar (Food Sovereignty). Revista Estudos Avançados, 19 (55): 33-48.

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According to federal government data, 16.27 million people are in situations of extreme poverty in Brazil, representing 8.5% of the total Brazilian population. The rural population represents 15.6% of the Brazilian population, almost half the people facing extreme poverty: 46.7%. On the other hand, the urban population represents 84.4% of the total population and 53.3% of those facing extreme poverty8.

Poverty can be understood, not only in relation to income, but also as privation of purpose and/or basic needs and the means necessary to meet these needs. According to Naila Kabeer9, fighting poverty involves not only ensuring access to the job market, but also guaranteeing rights. In the same way, it involves, among others, access to water, soil, health services, and social and cultural spaces, as a way to ensure a decent life.

Thus, to understand inequality in access to quality food, it is necessary to look at how different segments of the population access varied resources. As seen, access to economic resources is related to food satisfaction and is one of the fields in which inequality between men and women continues. Even with more schooling, women earn less than men. Data from the 2009 Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) (National Sampling Survey of Residences) show that working women earn approximately 70.7% of what men earn, with this difference being even greater among those working in the informal market (63.2%).

The sexual division of labor appears even sharper in the rural environment. According to Melo and Di Sabbato, female participation in production is related to family membership, in other words, their activity is considered to complement that of their husbands. Above all, women perform activities connected to domestic work, focused on self-consumption and without pay. Furthermore, when compensated, women’s work in the rural environment shows greater seasonality and instability – in other words, it is more subject to fluctuations in demand for production – and less remuneration. The fact that rural women receive approximately half the average income earned by women in the urban environment stands out.

Use of time also demonstrates the disadvantageous condition of women. According to PNAd data, in 2009, women spent on average 16.6 hours weekly on domestic tasks, while men dedicated only 10.5 hours to this activity (iBGe, 2010). Numbers from the instituto de Pesquisa econômica Aplicada (iPeA) (institute of Applied economic Research) show that in larger families and rural households, the disproportion in the division of domestic work increases. In families without children, 94% of women and 54.6% of men dedicate themselves to domestic tasks. With five or more children, caretaking is the responsibility of 95.7% of women and 38.8% of men. In rural areas, this number falls to 34.3% for men. In other words, domestic work continues to be primarily a female responsibility10.

O LiMiTed ACCeSS TO ReSOURCeS

8 Profile of extreme poverty in Brazil prepared by the Ministério de Desenvolvimento Social (Ministry of Social Development) based on preliminary data from the 2010 census, prepared by the IBGE. Available at <http://www.mds.gov.br/saladeimprensa/noticias-1/2011/maio/11.05.02_Nota_Tecnica_Perfil_A.doc/at_download/file / 9 KABEER, Naila (1998). “Tácticas y compromisos: nexo entre Gênero y pobreza” (Tactics and Compromises: The Nexus between Gender and Poverty). In: Arriagada, Irma; Torres, Carmen (editors): Gênero y pobreza: nuevas dimensiones (Gender and Poverty: New Dimensions). Ediciones de las mujeres. / 10 IPEA (2011). Retrato das Desigualdades de Gênero e Raça (Portrait of Inequalities of Gender and Race) – 4th edition. Accessed on 6/10/2013. Available at http://www.ipea.gov.br/retrato/

The iNTRiCATe FOOd ReALiTY

The production paradigm brought by the Green Revolution had impacts on the population’s access to food and natural resources. In Brazil, part of the population experiences strong limitations on access to food, water and land, whether in the countryside or in the city. Production is capable of feeding the entire population, but the productive system is made up of a few groups that dominate and control food production and distribution. The result is that a large part of the population, even if food producers (like small agricultural producers), have their access to these limited or reduced.


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The prevalence of residences with people living with slight FI was estimated at 18.7%, or, in absolute terms, 11 million residences, where 40.1 million people lived (20.9% of the population residing in private residences). The proportion of private residences with people living with moderate FI was 6.5% (equal to 3.8 million). There were 14.3 million people in these homes (7.4% of residents) living with limited quantitative access to food. Of the total residences, 5% (2.9 million) were classified as facing serious FI, food restrictions in which at least one person reported experiencing hunger during the period investigated. This situation affected 11.2 million people (5.8% of those living in private residences).

The rural area had the highest rates of food insecurity. With regard to moderate and serious FI, 6.2% and 4.6% of residences in the urban area, respectively, were in this situation, while these percentages were 8.6% and 7.0% in the rural area.

Inequality with regard to food access was also verified in relation to the large Brazilian regions. The North and Northeast regions recorded, respectively, a total of 40.3% and 46.1% of residences with food insecurity. On the other hand, in the Southeast and South regions, 23.3% and 18.7% were in this situation.

According to PNAD data, the prevalence of moderate or serious FI was greater in residences that had a woman as the reference person. Among residences in which the reference person was of the male sex, 10.2% were found in this situation, while this percentage was 14.2% if the reference person was of the female sex. It the composition of the residence included minors less than 18 years of age, the prevalence of moderate or serious FI was 11.5% if the reference person was of the male sex and 17.5% if of the female sex.

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Data collected by the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios, conducted by the IBGE in 200911, contribute to identifying inequality in relation to access and quality of food consumed. This survey sought to identify the food security condition of Brazilians:

In this survey, the PNAD recorded a total of 58.6 million private residences in Brazil in 2009; of these, 69.8%, or 40.9 million, had food security (FS). There were 126.2 million people living in these residences, equal to 65.8% of those living in private

food seCuriTy siTuaTion desCriPTion

FOOD SECURITY Residents of the households have regular and ongoing access to quality food, in sufficient quantity, without compromising their access to other essential needs

SLIGHT FOOD INSECURITY Concern or uncertainty with regard to future access to food; inadequate food quality resulting from strategies aiming to not compromise food quantity

MODERATE FOOD INSECURITY A quantitative reduction in food among adults and/or a breakdown of eating standards resulting from lack of food among adults

SERIOUS FOOD INSECURITY A quantitative reduction in food among children and/or a breakdown in eating standards resulting from a lack of food among children; hunger (when someone goes an entire day without eating for lack of money to buy food)

LiMiTed ACCeSS TO FOOd

residents in the country. The remaining 17.7 million private residences (30.2%) were facing some degree of food insecurity (FI); close to 65.6 million people living in them.

11 http://www.ibge.gov.br/home/estatistica/populacao/seguranca_alimentar_2004_2009/pnadalimentar.pdf

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In addition to difficult access to food, there are strong inequalities with regard to the costs and quality of food consumed among the Brazilian population.

Of the consumption spending in Brazil, the larger expenses are for housing, followed by food and transport. The rural population uses 27.6% of their spending on food, while the urban population spends less (19%). Another difference is in the type of food consumed according to the area. In rural residences, the average daily per capita consumption was much greater for foods such as rice, beans, sweet potatoes, cassava, cassava flour, mangos, tangerines, fresh fish, salted fish and salted meats. On the other hand, for urban residences, the consumption of ready-to-eat or processed products, such as salt bread, cookies with filling, yoghurt, blended fruit drinks, sandwiches, fried and roasted snacks, pizzas, soft

drinks, juices and beer, was more important (IBGE, 2011).

When asked about sufficiency in relation to food, 64.5% of Brazilian families responded positively, compared to 35.5% of those that stated the quantity of food consumed was insufficient or occasionally insufficient. It should be emphasized that there was a significant improvement in this perception in relation to the prior survey in 2002/2003 when this percentage was 53%.

However, dissatisfaction with the quantity of food consumed is higher in rural areas. In these, 45.6% of families mentioned some degree of dissatisfaction due to the insufficient amount of food consumed, while in urban areas this percentage was approximately 34%.

The prevalence of food security and moderate or serious food insecurity, in private residences and private residences with at least one person 18 years of age or older, according to the sex of the reference person of the residence. Brazil - 2009

%

MeN MeN

Private residences Private residences with at least one resident 18 years of age or older

wOMeN

Food security Moderate or serious food insecurity

Source: iBGe, diretoria de Pesquisas (Research Board), Coordenação de Trabalho e Rendimento (Labor and income Coordination), Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de domicílios 2009 (2009 National Sampling Survey of Residences).

wOMeN

71.9

10.2

65.6

14.2

65.9

11.517.5

55.9


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Average area of establishments according to the condition of the producer and the sex of the person responsible for the establishment

CONdiTiON OF The PROdUCeR wOMeN (hA) MeN (hA)

Owner 33.17 84.19

Settler without definitive property 24.33 31.26

Tenant 13.89 41.03

Partner 8.02 14.43

Occupant 7.98 16.53

Source: IBGE, Censo Agropecuário 2006 (2006 Agriculture

The table above reveals one of the forms of women’s unequal access to land, which is the fact that they are responsible for smaller units. The average area of female owners represented less than 40% of that of male owners, and the average area of female tenants represented 34% of that of male tenants. Add to this the evidence of empirical studies that indicate that women are in areas with lower production conditions and access to commercialization12.

Since the 1980s, a number of changes in legislation and public policies have been trying to reduce this discrepancy. The 1988 constitution already provided for joint title for men and women of lands destined for land reform. However, the absence of mandatory joint title generated cultural practices in which women were subordinated to fathers, husbands or brothers. A 2003 INCRA ordinance13 made joint title mandatory in the case of marriage or stable union. Even so, a significant difference persists, considering the different initiatives made in recent years to eliminate barriers to women’s access to land in the beneficiary selection processes and support policies for land reform settlements. The difference is smaller for settlers; the average area of establishments in which women are responsible is equal to 78% of the average area administered by

men. Considering the fact that the lots in settlement areas are of equal size, this difference in area must indicate a lower presence of women in the regions of greater fiscal modules, such as the North and Center-West regions.

Unequal access to land is also explained by cultural factors. Research conducted by Maria José Carneiro indicates that, despite the equality established by the Civil Code, custom codes persist that place the interests of the family above those of individuals. In her study of land inheritance among farmers of Italian origin in Rio Grande do Sul, the author found that daughters normally do not inherit land when their fathers die. Both the widow and the daughters are led to waive their share in the name of men, to ensure continuation of patrimonial unity. “Their part of the inheritance is reduced to the trousseau and some household items, if they marry a farmer, or to their support in the city while they study and prepare to enter the urban job market,” says the researcher.

12 CARNEIRO, 2001, p. 49; DOSS; GROWN; DEERE, [s.d.], p. 6 13 Incra - Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute for Colonization and Land Reform), federal entity responsible for rural land management.

Women face profound inequality in access to land. Data from the IBGE’s 2006 Agriculture and Livestock Census show that the proportion of establishments where women are responsible as owners (75.9%) is slightly lower than for men (76.3%), and practically equal in the case of settlers without definitive property documentation (3.6% and 3.7%, respectively). However, women are in worse shape among those worst off. As tenants, the proportion of establishments in which those responsible are women is 2.4%, half of that for men, which is 4.7%. The situation is reversed for producers without land: 8.1% for women and 4.5% for men.

The CONSTANT STRUGGLe FOR ACCeSS TO LANd

Women’s unequal access to land is even more evident if we look at the average area by condition of the producer. Establishments in which women are responsible have average areas less than half the size of the average area of establishments in which men are responsible in the conditions of owners and tenants, and close to half in cases in which they are partners and occupants.


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Before the non-sustainable hegemonic model of production and consumption, new currents appear opposing it and proposing new paths. Social movements have strengthened their unity in confronting agribusiness and defending food sovereignty. In this common struggle, movements of rural, indigenous and peasant workers, urban social movements and women’s movements, among others, are aligning.

This principle comprises the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food, produced with sustainable methods, and the autonomy of peoples to define their own agricultural and food systems, in other words, what, how much and how to produce and consume. Food sovereignty insists that the needs and ways of life of those

PROMOTiNGFOOd SOVeReiGNTY

Food sovereignty is a concept constructed and presented in 1996 by Via Campesina, an international movement that brings together peasants, small producers, landless peoples, indigenous peoples, migrants and agricultural workers.

who produce, distribute and consume food be at the center of these systems, and not bound by the interests of the market and large companies.

Food sovereignty insists on the need to change the political point of view to achieve food security and the right to food. It also affirms the change in power relationships, placing those who suffer injustice in access to food at the center of the policies.

It should be emphasized that the concepts of food sovereignty and food security are not synonymous. The term ‘food security’ – a concept utilized particularly by government institutions – appeared after World War I, tying primarily the food issue to the production capacity of each country. In its definition, food and nutritional security is

““

She adds that in the case of women who do not marry an exception can be made. Since it is believed that these women give up marriage to meet family demands, single women receive a small parcel of land to ensure their subsistence. However, this parcel is smaller in size and quality than that destined for men14.

Even with joint ownership, the decision on how to use land is also influenced by gender relationships. Based on tables of the 2006 Agriculture and Livestock Census, made by Nobre15, it is possible to verify that, in the case of several products, establishments in which the largest part of the workforce is female sell less than those in which the majority of the workforce is male.

Several women farmers report pressure from husbands to utilize the largest part of the area (if not all of it) for commercial planting, while they push to maintain a productive yard. The impact of the prevalence of self-consumption on the economic autonomy of women has to be

14 CARNEIRO, Maria José. “Acesso à terra e condições sociais de gênero: reflexões a partir da realidade brasileira”. Quito, 2006. / 15 NOBRE, Miriam: Censo Agropecuário 2006 – Brasil: uma análise de gênero. In Butto, Andréa, Dantas, Isolda, Hora, Karla.: As Mulheres nas estatísticas agropecuárias: experiências em países do sul. MDA, Brasília, 2012. 16 The Seminário Nacional Mulheres e Agroecologia took place from April 28 to 30, 2006 in Belém with the participation of close to 150 women and was preparatory for the II Encontro Nacional de Agroecologia (II National Agroecology Conference) that took place in Recife in June of the same year.

considered. Even authors, such as Carrasco, who value the economic contribution of women through their work and permanent availability for caregiving, recognize that monetary income is absolutely necessary in our society for access to vital resources.

Participants in the Seminário Nacional Mulheres e Agroecologia (Women and Agroecology National Seminar)16 have reported that this dilemma is also present in the families of agro ecological agriculturalists. In relation to the market, the women have reported situations in which female farmers have sold honey to buy refined sugar or sold farm-raised chicken to buy frozen chicken. Therefore, they were not able to take advantage of the high quality food they produced. It was feared that the incentive for commercialization contributed to worsening food security for the families.


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it calls attention to the importance of consuming seasonal products or products grown and raised in nearby locations and in harmony with the environment.

In the same way, food sovereignty proposes change, not only in food production standards, but also in those of consumption. Consumption should stop being based on industrialized products and fast food – valued by today’s society in which considerable time is devoted to the productive sphere – and return to quality eating. For this, it is also necessary to establish public policies directed at food quality and which collectively serve the population, such as low-priced restaurants.

Food sovereignty emerges as one of the most promising and effective responses to the

food, climate and social crises the world is experiencing today. In addition to affirming the right of all peoples to food, it proposes regional and global development of a sustainable model that necessarily seeks equality in its multiple dimensions: social, economic, ethnic/racial, gender, etc.


food production, distribution and consumption. Therefore, this is a proposal of broad character, which involves the defense of fair agrarian reform, territorial control, local markets, biodiversity, autonomy, health and quality of life. One of its essential principles is the strengthening of local food production and consumption. There is a concern with guaranteeing the use of land, water, seeds and biodiversity to small producers, taking power out of the hands of the economic conglomerates.

By defending local autonomy, food sovereignty also contributes with proposals for new forms of food circulation and distribution by means of circuits that bring producers and consumers closer together, thus reducing intermediation between them and strengthening their alliances. In addition,

understood as the guarantee of the right of all to access to basic foods, in sufficient quantity, without compromising the satisfaction of other essential needs, based on healthy food practices, and thus contributing to a decent existence in a context of full development of the human being. This concept approaches the food issue from the economic and social possibility of obtaining food and the quality of the food consumed, mainly in relation to nutritional quality. However, this may not question the type of production system, coming to favor agribusiness, the use of transgenics and toxic agrochemicals, in some cases.

In this sense, the concept of ‘food sovereignty’ emerges as a strategy for transformation of the current model, by defending the right of peoples and local autonomy with regard to food systems, as well as questioning the hegemonic models of

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PUBLIC POLICIES

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Hunger is not limited only to lack of access to food, but involves (re)thinking the production and distribution system, as well as breaking with the logic that reproduces social and economic inequality, male chauvinism and racism, among others, in our society.“ “

The role of the state is crucial in confronting and combating social inequality, so strong and visible in Brazil. In a country where hunger and poverty are still part of the reality of millions of Brazilians, actions that cause a break in the conditions of misery in which part of the population lives are urgent. Many of these actions appear as a result of the initiative of civil society and social movements, which seek alternatives to break with the logic of social contrasts, the case of those undertaken in the field of food sovereignty. However, action by the state is essential, both to strengthen these initiatives and to implement them and ensure that the transformations occur in a fairer and more equal society.

The heterogeneity that marks Brazilian reality poses special challenges for public policies that seek to combat inequality. The actions undertaken by the state can have different designs and, consequently, different impacts, depending on their reach, focus, duration time, and transformational capacity, among others. Thus, we will analyze the actions undertaken by the state in confronting hunger and poverty seeking to understand their limits, advances and challenges and how they are promoting changes in people’s living conditions, a transformation of society and a path toward equality.

foTo Gilvan Barreto/oxfam

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Public policies to fight poverty face three main challenges. The first is preventing people from dying of hunger. The second is to guarantee opportunities for people to escape poverty, which can be done by means of income generation programs, microcredit and promotion of local sustainable development, like family agriculture. The third is to prevent people from falling back into poverty, which is possible based on social policies such as unemployment insurance and social security, among others.

Since 2003, the federal government has been implementing a set of measures to confront the problem of hunger and poverty in Brazil, both in rural and urban areas, as is the case of the Bolsa Família (Family Stipend), Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) and Brasil Sem Miséria (Brazil without Poverty) programs. Since their implementation, the debate and the number of studies dedicated to analyzing their reach and limitations have grown.

The effect of these measures, as well as the actions of social movements that press for these actions, has been shown by national surveys. The data collected by the Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF) (Family Budgets Survey), conducted by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) (IBGE, 2010b), indicate that families are feeling improvements in relation to the food consumed. According to the survey, in 2008/9, 64.5% of families stated they had sufficient quantities of food to last until the end of the month, while in 2002/3, 53% had made this statement. With regard to investigating whether families consumed (always, not always

or rarely) their favorite food, the survey also indicated an improvement: while 73.2% stated some dissatisfaction in 2002/3, this percentage was 65% in 2008/9. However, although the families perceived an improvement in relation to prior years, the problem of hunger is still a reality for a large number of Brazilian families. According to data of the federal government itself, there are still 16 million Brazilians living in situations of extreme poverty.

Some programs cover the entire national territory (even though there are specific guidelines for the countryside and the city), such as is the case of the Brasil Sem Miséria plan, the Bolsa Família program and the Fome Zero program. Other programs are directly focused on the rural environment. Among these, initiatives dedicated to incentivizing family agriculture, involving precepts of agro ecology, food sovereignty and economic solidarity stand out. The Programa Nacional de Agricultura Familiar (Pronaf) (National Family Agriculture Program) and the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) (Food Acquisition Program) stand out among them.

In the same way, some programs take a look at gender relations in their guidelines, seeking to promote changes in women’s lives. Other programs, even though not focused directly on women, end up having them as their main targets. Thus, we will try to insist in our analysis on how gender relations are incorporated into these policies and which challenges still have to be confronted with regard to equality of the sexes.

POLiCieS TOCONFRONT hUNGeR ANd POVeRTY


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The Brasil Sem Miséria Plan is directed to the 16 million Brazilians (indicated in the IBGE’s 2010 census) who live in situations of extreme poverty in the country, in other words, those who live in homes with income of no more than R$ 70 per person. According to data of the federal government itself, the actions of the plan are conducted jointly, with some directed specifically to rural areas and others to urban areas, and they add to other existing programs, such as the Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) and the Programa Bolsa Família.

in rural areas, 47% of the population benefits from the plan. For this portion, the strategies are focused on increasing the production of farmers and sales of their products. This is done by means of offering technical assistance, support for acquisition of inputs and seeds, guaranteed access to water by means of the construction of cisterns and other systems, and guaranteed sale of their products (by means of the PAA, in addition to purchase incentives for other institutions, such as universities and hospitals).

On the other hand, the strategies directed to the population in extreme poverty in urban areas, according to the federal government itself, involve access to a job and income generation. Thus, the plan offers professional qualification courses for training this population; provides intermediation between the population and companies to guarantee insertion in the job market; seeks to expand the microcredit policy and the incentive for and strengthening of the popular and solidary economy.

In 2012, the federal government launched the Programa Brasil Carinhoso (Caring Brazil Program) that falls within the set of actions of the Brasil Sem Miséria plan, directed at families in the country, which have children in the 0 to 6 year age group and live in extreme poverty. Its proposal aims to guarantee that all families with at least one child in this age group exceed the amount of R$ 70 per person, in addition to seeking to expand access to daycare and education for these children and promote improvements in health care (guarantee of food vitamins, access to drugs, etc.).

The BRASiL SeM MiSéRiA PLAN

The BOLSA FAMíLiA PROGRAM

The Bolsa Família Program is considered a highlight of the current administration’s policy and is allied with the poverty eradication plan in the country. This program is one of the income transfer policies that have the objective of improving living conditions for poor and extremely poor people. However, it considers that this improvement does not come only from income transfer, and that the development and expansion of basic social services should complement it.

In relation to income transfer, there are five types of benefits that involve poor or extremely poor families, with values that vary according to family situation and composition (depending, for example, on the number and age of the children).

A recent report released by the International Labor Organization (ILO) indicates that, from 2003 to 2009, there was a 36.5% reduction in poverty in Brazil, in other words, over this period, 27.9 million people escaped from this condition. According

PUBLiC POLiCieS,PROGRAMS ANd ACTiONS iN BRAziL TO FiGhT POVeRTY

FOMe zeRO

The Fome Zero program is a federal government strategy that aims to directly confront the problem of hunger in the country. Its actions try to guarantee the right of adequate food to the entire population, based on the precepts of food and nutritional security. The actions of Fome Zero are conducted in conjunction with programs and actions driven by the federal, state and municipal governments, and involve the guarantee of access to food, strengthening of family agriculture, income generation and strategies of mobilization and social articulation.

In terms of gender, among the emergency actions prioritized by the program, an action central to women, the fight against mother and child malnutrition, can be identified. To realize this action, the Fome Zero project includes the following propositions: i) supply of food products, like milk, and basic nutrients, like iron and vitamins, to the children registered in the health and social aid network, aiming to universalize the already existing programs; ii) early diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition, associated with nutritional guidance and monitoring of children and families by health teams; iii) strengthening

of the Sistema de Vigilância Nutricional (Sisvan) (Nutritional Monitoring System) as a tool for identifying, registering, visiting and guiding families in relation to their health and food; and iv) programs to incentivize and guide breastfeeding (Instituto Cidadania, 2001).

In spite of the recognized importance of the measure, it cannot be said that it is a gender initiative, since empowerment and the autonomy of women are not the goals of this action, but rather that of solving a problem that involves women as essential agents of social reproduction.

The selection of gender only appears to be present in the Programa Cartão Alimentação (PCA) (Food Card Program), an income transfer modality present in the specific actions of the Fome Zero program. The PCA follows a tradition begun by other programs of this nature by giving preference to women in granting resources. In addition to consolidating this orientation, the PCA has expanded it, because it does not tie prioritization of women to their conditions as mothers17.

17 PRATES, Ceres A.; NOGUEIRA, M. Beatriz. Os programas de combate à pobreza no Brasil e a perspectiva de gênero no período 2000-2003: avanços e possibilidades (Programs to Fight Poverty in Brazil and the Gender Perspective in the 2000-2003 Period: Advances and Possibilities). 2005. Available at http://www.eclac.org/publicaciones/xml/9/22229/lcl2309p.pdf

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Although the Bolsa Família program is not directed specifically at women, in practice, they have been the main beneficiaries, since they are in situations of greater social vulnerability, in addition to being the main caregivers in families. They have also become the focus of the program since they are considered to better direct the resources in benefit of the home and family than men.

““ PhoTo Gilvan Barreto/oxfam

“ According to the definition of the Brazilian government, the Bolsa Familia Programme is based on three main pillars: cash transfer as an immediate poverty reduction measure; participation requirements that ensure access to basis rights such as education and health; and complementary initiatives.

to the report, increase of the minimum wage in the country and the Bolsa Família program have contributed to the improvement of these indicators.

Some studies indicate that the Bolsa Família program contributes to relieving family poverty, but is not able to promote a break in this situation on its own. The work of Maria Ozanira Silva18 on the Bolsa Família program indicates that programs that monthly transfer the amount of a minimum salary, as is the case of the Benefício de Prestação Continuada (Benefit of Continuing Social Assistance) and Seguro Social Rural (Rural Social Security), are those that have most contributed to reducing inequality and poverty in the country. According to the ILO, income coming from social security benefits and the continuing social assistance benefit (BPC) was responsible for raising 23.1 million people out of poverty in Brazil in 2009.

The continuing social assistance benefit (BPC) is part of social assistance policy and is directed

at people 65 years of age or older and people with special needs that live in families whose per capita family income is lower than one fourth of the minimum salary. The benefit consists of the amount of one minimum salary for each beneficiary, and there can be more than one per family. In other words, it is an income transfer destined for those who demonstrate that they do not have the means to provide for their own subsistence or have it provided for by their families. According to data of the Ministério de Desenvolvimento Social (MDS) (Ministry of Social Development), in 2012, 3.6 million people were beneficiaries of the BPC in the country, with 1.7 million of them being elderly and 1.9 million being people with special needs.

A more specific analysis of the Bolsa Família program allows examination of elements related to its actions to deal with poverty in the country, taking a look at the way it has altered the conditions of Brazilian families, including women.

18 SILVA, Maria Ozanira da S. O Bolsa Família: problematizando questões centrais na política de transferência de renda no Brasil (The Family Stipend Program: Questioning Central Issues in the Income Transfer Policy in Brazil). Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 12(6):1429-1439, 2007.

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PUBLiC POLiCieSFOR RURAL wOMeN

At the end of the 1980s and in the 1990s, the search for economic and social autonomy of rural women became stronger, by means of movements of women from rural areas and the self-organizations of rural women. These movements and organizations started to call for recognition of women as agriculturists, equal access to land in the agrarian reform and social rights, focusing on access to social security. After their recognition as agriculturists by the government, women started to call for their inclusion in the Rural Producer Invoice Pad20 and the right to join local unions, to seek rights, public policies and land in an egalitarian fashion.

With the Marcha das Margaridas21, the Via Campesina demonstrations and the “March 8”, rural women’s claims got more visibility, since these are events of large, national mobilization, thus establishing a promising dialogue with public managers to implement public policies for women family agriculturists.

With the recognized existence of gender inequalities in rural areas, the federal government created public policies of equal access to land, a program to issue basic documentation for rural women and support for production and trading. The Secretariat of Policies for Women (SPM) was also

20 It is a rural producer invoice document, authorized by Sefa (State Secretariat of Finance). The Rural Producer Invoice Pad is the document necessary for rural production individuals to trade their products (those resulting from their work in their property.) E.g.: corn, soybeans, beans, pine, eucalyptus, chicken, beef products, etc.) / 21 A Marcha das Margaridas teve quatro edições, a primeira em 2000 e as outras em 2003, 2007 e 2011.


“

“Access to income, made possible by means of the program, has contributed not only to an improvement of the social situation of families, but also to raising the purchasing power of women and, consequently, families, with regard to the quantity and quality of goods and products. For some of the families, this is the first experience of having a monthly income.

According to research on the program conducted by Ações em Gênero, Cidadania e Desenvolvimento (AGENDE) (Actions in Gender, Citizenship and Development) and by the Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre a Mulher da Universidade de Brasília (Center for Studies and Research on Women of the University of Brasília), by requiring documentation to register beneficiaries, the program has contributed to promoting citizenship among a portion of the population that, previously, in many cases, did not even possess an official identification document. In the same way, the study further indicates that increased consumption tends to also represent a benefit for the municipality as a whole, since it stimulates development of the local economy19.

Although there has been this improvement, the program does not provide greater participation for women in social and economic activities or in public spaces. Many of the beneficiaries continue performing activities restricted to the domestic sphere – such as the home, yard and neighborhood –, with no incentive to begin participating in other public, political or social spaces.

19 AGENDE – Ações em Gênero, Cidadania e Desenvolvimento (Actions in Gender, Citizenship and Development) and the Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisas sobre a Mulher da Universidade de Brasília (Center for Studies and Research on Women of the University of Brasilia). O programa bolsa família e o enfrentamento das desigualdades de Gender (The Bolsa Família Program and Confronting Gender Inequality. (S/d) Available at <http://www.ipc- undp.org/doc_africa_brazil/Webpage/missao/Pesquisas/PESQUISA_MULHER.pdf>. Accessed on 10/22/2010.

This same research indicated that women feel they have increased their authority within the family thanks to their greater purchasing power and that this allows them to negotiate positions in the domestic space. They feel their economic autonomy has expanded since they do not depend on money from the husband or partner, who begin to value their contribution to the domestic economy. In this way, even though it is not its objective, the program leads to an increase in self-esteem and empowerment of women, which later tends to contribute to change gender relations within the family and society.

however, access to income should be guaranteed together with access to other rights and social services (such as education, daycare, and collective restaurants, among others), that make it possible for people – and, we highlight, women –, to not only break with the condition of poverty and misery in which they find themselves, but to also break the logic of gender relations that make women exclusively responsible for domestic and caregiving work.

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created, with ministerial status, and the Special Advisory on Gender, Race, and Ethnicity (Aegre), which has now become the Directorate for Policies for Rural and Quilombola Women (DPMRQ), part of the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA).

To ensure the expansion and inclusion of rural women in public policies, the federal government created a strategy establishing the integration of some plans and programs by the MdA, such as the ii National Plan for Agrarian Reform (PNRA), the National Program for Agriculture enhancement (Pronaf), the National Program for Sustainable

development of Rural Territories, the Brasil Quilombola Program, and the National Program of Rural extension and Technical Assistance. Noteworthy is the increase in the budget for public policies for women in the Multiannual Plans (PAA) for 2004-2008 and 2008-2011.

The federal government established, in 2003, regardless of the marital status of the couple, mandatory joint title for land in the plots of agrarian reform settlements. Another measure, in 2007, gave women who are family heads preference in the Systematic Classification of Families Benefitting from Agrarian Reform, and determines that, in case of separation, plots stay with women if they retain custody of children.

The National Rural Woman Worker Documentation Program (PNDTR)22 ensures the issuance of free civil and labor documentation for rural women. These documents are issued in collective documentation efforts, which also guide and inform women of their rights and public policies for family agriculture and the agrarian reform.

The National Policy of Technical Assistance (PNATER), in 2004, incorporated gender relations into its content. Now the needs of women are taken into account when selecting project financing and also in methodological instructions. This policy aims to recognize and stimulate the participation of women in preparing designs, deconstructing the notion of women’s work as aid, and to value and enhance the knowledge existing in women’s practices.

In 2003, after women’s movements called for the creation of a specific financing line for women that would stimulate their economic autonomy, women’s access to Pronaf was expanded, and it is now mandatory to have joint property documents as a criterion for credit, and a special credit line was created: Pronaf Mulher.

22 PNDTR is a key action to socially include rural woman workers, either in the agrarian reform or in family agriculture, because it enables free issuing of civil, labor or social security documents, by means of itinerant, collective documentation efforts. The program is also responsible for educational actions for beneficiaries, to clarify use of the documents, to present public policies and guide their access to them.


A criação do Programa Organização Produtiva de Mulheres Rurais foi uma iniciativa muito importante para que as mulheres pudessem alcançar sua autonomia econômica e social. O Programa viabiliza o acesso das mulheres às políticas de comercialização e de organização produtivas por meio da difusão dos princípios da economia feminista e solidária, com o objetivo de fortalecer as organizações produtivas de trabalhadoras rurais, incentivando a troca de informações, conhecimentos técnicos, culturais, organizacionais, de gestão e de comercialização, valorizando os princípios da economia solidária e feminista, de forma a viabilizar o acesso das mulheres às políticas públicas de apoio à produção e comercialização.

““

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In recent years, the number of rural women provided with technical assistance has risen, but women still face a number of difficulties in accessing these services. data from the diagnosis of the implementation of public policies for gender equality by the Agrarian development Ministry (MdA) indicate that the main difficulties faced by productive groups of women are lack of information about how to proceed and where to go, lack of continuity in the services supplied and the difficulty of not having their reality and knowledge considered during the preparation of productive projects.

By means of Miriam Nobre’s analysis23, it is noticeable that establishments in which men are in charge receive more technical assistance. While men get around 22%, women get only 11% of the service. “To reach the level of establishments run by men, more than 66,000 establishments run by women should benefit”, says Nobre.

Lack of technical assistance and technical teams unprepared to carry out projects with rural women means that women have no access to other public policies, like credit and participation in food-purchasing programs.

Thus, it is necessary to train the Ater technical teams about unequal gender relationships, sexual division of labor and productive organization of groups of rural women, so that these teams can change their views about the family, the structure of the production unit and the power relationships and hierarchy of men over women. These questions must be considered when preparing a project to manage family unit productive areas. It is evident

that if there is an effort of capacity building and interaction with rural women, technical teams and public managers, there is also greater access to Ater policies by women.

The Directorate of Policies for Rural Women of the MDA has been engaged in a dialogue process with rural women and the Ater policy managers to survey demands. The main demands relate to management of enterprises, internal organization, formalization of the groups and adapting to sanitary inspection norms for sale of products. The groups have also expressed demands for leadership building and for gender and public policies as a means to build the social, political and economic autonomy of rural women.

The Ater act, in effect since 2010, makes it mandatory to hold a national conference every four years. Thus, the technical assistance policy starts to have greater social control and the territorial, regional, state and national conferences become potential arenas for women to express their demands and proposals in order to guarantee their technical assistance and rural extension services.

TeChNiCAL ASSiSTANCe ANd RURAL exTeNSiON – ATeR

23 NOBRE, Miriam: ibidem

ChALLeNGeS FACedBY RURAL wOMeN iN ACCeSSiNG The MdA PUBLiC POLiCieS


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These issues are interconnected. Thus, measures to tackle them must be taken together, to promote real inclusion of women rural workers in credit policies.

Besides, this lack of information about access possibilities prevents women from participating in decision-making and economic processes of the family, so men predominate in productive processes.

Another aspect affecting women’s access to credit is default of the family unit, preventing them from accessing other lines of Pronaf credit. In some cases, women have no knowledge of these debts and their husbands use the Pronaf resources as they wish, without taking women’s opinion into account.

One of the difficulties for women to gain access to financing is the fear of not being able to pay for it and becoming indebted. In the diagnosis of the implementation of public policies for gender equality of the MDA, the fear of not being able to pay the debt was mentioned by 18.4% of the productive groups of rural women interviewed as one of the obstacles to accessing Pronaf.

Another aspect related to the lack of information is that there is little knowledge about Pronaf Mulher

A > Difficulty in obtaining the property documentation from Incra;B > Lack of technical teams to issue the Declaration of Aptness for Pronaf;C > High default rates in the municipalities, leading banks to suspend the issuing of new loan contracts in these municipalities;D > Delays in making the approved project resources available, rarely following the agricultural calendar of the region;E > Lack of resources, according to the banks, for Pronaf Mulher;F > Banks without enough employees to analyze the projects;G > Excessive bureaucracy for access to financing throughout the process of obtaining credit.

credit by financial agents in the municipalities and by local technical assistance services, who often do not know what can be financed by this line. Some technical assistance technicians inform women about Pronaf Mulher credit access with information from the year of its creation, when credit was associated to productive activities of the site, thus reinforcing the notion that family unit credit is for men and this special line is for women.

Another difficulty is the insufficient number of technicians in the field to provide the service to women, both in creating projects and in supervising production.

The main operational issues that make access to Pronaf difficult relate to the difficulty in obtaining the necessary documents to make contracts effective; and the rules, bureaucracy and lack of personnel at bank branches, as seen below.

Another important issue is the fact that even among women with knowledge of the procedures for accessing credit, many mention the difficulty of

traveling from their homes to the agency responsible for the technical assistance and/or the bank.

Since Pronaf was implemented, the number of women with access to this type of credit has been increasing. In the period from 2004 to 2006, women’s income grew 31.5%. However, there are a number of challenges to be faced, because it is clear that few women have accessed financing lines in Brazil. This happens for different reasons, for example, the lack of information among women

about credit and access to it; inequality in gender relations; a lack of technical assistance; difficulty finding technical assistance technicians who can prepare projects and supervise their execution; little information from the local financial agents and from the technical assistance service; and difficulty issuing the Declaration of Aptness for Pronac (DAP)24.

Lack of information about existing credit lines and how to access them is one of the major hindrances for women. They often do not know that credit accessed by husbands is credit for the family unit, which the family should decide how to make best use of, because it is commonly said that the family unit Pronaf is “man’s credit”. Some times, even though the woman is the person receiving the credit, it is the man who decides how to use it. There are cases where the woman accesses the credit because the husband was in debt and was not eligible; in these cases, also, it is the husband or male partner who decides how to use the resources and their income.

PROGRAM TO eNhANCe

FAMiLY AGRiCULTURe (PRONAF)

24 Created by the Family Agriculture Secretariat, DAP is used as an identification tool for family agriculturists to access public policies, such as Pronaf. To obtain it, family agriculturists must go to a body or institution accredited by the MDA, with their CPF (Individual Taxpayer ID) and data about their production establishment (area, number of residents, workforce and income composition and full address).

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The national program for school food, created by the Ministry of Education, is another mechanism to contribute to the development of family agriculture and nutritional and food improvements. This program, in effect since 1955, sets aside financial resources to acquire food for students in the basic education network enrolled in public or philanthropic schools in Brazil.

Law 11,947, of June 16, 2009, determines that a minimum 30% of the total received by the national fund for education development – FNDE – for school food be used for direct purchases from family agriculture and from the rural family entrepreneurs or their organizations.

Food production must respect culture, traditions and healthy food habits, contributing to the growth and development of students, as well as improving their learning conditions; and “support for sustainable development, with incentives to acquire diverse food items, produced locally and preferably by family agriculture and by rural family entrepreneurs, prioritizing traditional indigenous communities and surviving quilombo populations.”25

NATiONAL PROGRAM

FOR SChOOL FOOd (PNAe)

25 Law No. 11,947, of June 16, 2009, published in the Diário Oficial da União (Official Federal Gazette), No. 113, Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Available at <http://www.fnde.gov.br/component/k2/item/3341-resolução-cd-fnde-nº-38-de-16-de-julho-de-2009?highlight=YToxOntpOjA7czo0OiJwbmFlIjt9>. Accessed on 07/24/2013.


The Program of Family Agriculture Food Acquisition (PAA) is based on two important aspects: recognition of food production by family agriculture and the right of citizens to eat adequate, quality food. Family agriculture is responsible for a great deal of food production in Brazil. it also accounts for 87% of production of cassava, 70% of beans, and 46% of corn.

Families producing for PAA who also consume these foods improved their food quality, especially those in poverty and food insecurity. The program ensures there are investments for inputs and commercialization of products, so the productive capacity and the income of agriculturalists increase. Increased production and trade create a new social dynamic, intensifying the relationship between town and country and generating the flow of money in the local market.

Despite significant advances, there are some challenges to be overcome by the Program, especially with regard to rural women. PAA tends to focus on the family unit and not on family composition and the situation of its members. This logic results in making women’s productive work invisible. The women’s movements have brought changes with regard to the perception of women agriculturists in the family and in society, allowing more and more beneficiaries to be included.

The federal government changed access procedures to PAA in 2011 to expand women’s participation. Women’s participation became a priority criterion in selecting and executing proposals in all modalities and by all PAA operators. It was defined that at least 5% of the yearly PAA budget shall be destined to organizations made up exclusively of women or mixed organizations with a minimum 70% of women in their total composition. With regard to the local direct purchase with simultaneous donation and incentive to produce and consume milk modalities, the participation of at least 40% and 30% of women, respectively, will be required of the total supply producers.

PROGRAM OF FAMiLY AGRiCULTURe

FOOd ACQUiSiTiON


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and the lack of adequate transport and roads to deliver the production. The lack of documentation necessary to trade, such as invoices and the sanitary inspection certificate, is also a hindrance.

The lack of infrastructure, premises and machines for production is also a real problem. With no concrete conditions to ensure permanent, quality production, the groups are afraid of having more expenses with regard to the taxes generated by their formalization, which could lead them to debt.

Another important obstacle is the lack of capacity building to manage the enterprise and the technical procedures that can be incorporated, such as an efficient tool to record sales and income obtained.

There is a trend in which the smaller the size of the enterprise, the greater the participation of women. Women predominate largely in enterprises with less than 10 partners (63%) and men predominate in enterprises with over 20 partners (60% in solidary economy enterprises (EES) of 21 to 50 partners and 66% in EES with over 50 partners.) In enterprises headed by women identified through the solidary economy information system, 97.9% earn up to one minimum salary and the vast majority (83.7%), earn only half of that. Only 11% accessed financing for production (Faria, 2011)26.

Surveys conducted by the Directorate for Policies for Rural and Quilombola Women (DPMRQ), of the MDA, between 2005 and 2009, identified 920 productive groups of rural women, in virtually every state of the country, some of them already accessing the PAA. However, a recent research by Siliprandi & Cintrão (2011)26 indicates a low percentage of women beneficiaries in the contracts, which shows that the PAA is not reaching more women formally yet, in its various operation modalities. One of the reasons for the low participation of women in the PAA is perhaps the organizational format prioritized by the program – usually unions, associations and cooperatives. These more formal organizational modalities tend to have only one member per family, usually the husband, the “head of the house”, as if he represented the interests of the other members.

Since the women’s groups engaging in economic activities tend to work informally, it is more difficult to access policies such as PAA and Pnae, because they cannot compete with formalized, more structured organizations, with prior access to markets.

To make the access of women to public policies to support production and trading feasible and to strengthen their productive organizations, the program of productive organization of rural women (POPMR) was created in 2008. however, to make access to the program a fact, it is necessary to make sure there is qualified technical assistance, able to service each individual in the family unit with their specificities.

26 FARIA, Nalu. Mulheres rurais na economia solidária. (Women in the solidary economy) In: Butto, Andréa; Dantas, Isolda: Autonomia e Cidadania (Autonomy and Citizenship): Políticas de Organização Produtiva para as Mulheres no Meio Rural (Productive Organization Policies for Rural Women). MDA, 2011. / 27 Siliprandi, E. & Cintrão, R. As mulheres agricultoras e sua participação no Programa de Aquisição de Alimentos (PAA) [Women agriculturists and their participation in the Food Acquisition Program (PAA)]. In Butto, Andréa; Dantas, Isolda. Autonomia e Cidadania (Autonomy and Citizenship): Políticas de Organização Produtiva para as Mulheres no Meio Rural (Productive Organization Policies for Rural Women). MDA, 2011.

In every region of Brazil, groups of women are trying to be self-sufficient, while at the same time looking for ways to qualify their productive capacity, aiming to enter local and regional markets, especially those that recognize agro ecological production by women. In 2006, women were responsible for 16.4% of fruit and vegetable cultivation, while men accounted for only 8.1%. This data is important because it reveals greater participation of women in self-consumption and agricultural or non-agricultural activities that do not earn remuneration, in monetary terms.

In recent years, there has been an increase in economic enterprises of groups of rural women in several regions of the country, representing an alternative for income generation faced with the transformations in productive processes. The majority of these enterprises are informal, with little access to legal procedures, which makes it difficult for them to enter the formal market. Other problems identified are operational and structural, such as the lack of working capital, the difficulty in ensuring product enhancement and advertising

PROGRAM FOR RURAL wOMeN’S

PROdUCTiVe ORGANizATiON


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Male chauvinism and power relations also weigh on women’s productive organizations. It is common to hear about women whose husbands say “they like to get home and find them there, they feel more assured when they know they are home, or that ‘that’, referring to the group, will come to nothing. Faced with little encouragement from the family, women are not stimulated to take on a productive activity that will require more time to manage and produce than the usual time they dedicate to productive activities together with home tasks.

Finally, the lack of public and social policies, such as those for health, socializing the elderly and nurseries, are real obstacles to women investing more in productive activities.


The creation of some policies, such as the food acquisition program (PAA) and the national program for school food (PNAE), structured in a national policy of food and nutritional safety represent important alternatives of income generation for groups of productive women, by means of government purchase strategy.

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“ The convergence of rural and urban movements can democratize the food system, ending the monopoly of agro food corporations and promoting localized, socially just agro ecological systems (Holt-Giménez and Shattuck, 2011, p.321).“


The OBSTACLeS weSTiLL hAVe TO OVeRCOMe

Efforts to incentivize and strengthen family agriculture aim to ensure access to food and products for both the rural and the urban populations. However, we still face some challenges. One of them is the fact that rural producers find it difficult to compete with large agro industrial producers, to sell their products and to generate income. Much production ends up serving as self-consumption of the family group or having a very restricted and limited sales space. Therefore, the importance is evident of capacity-building and investment guarantees, from the incentive to sell and purchase agro ecological products coming from family agriculture, to the priority for acquiring these products by bodies and institutions, and the creation of trade networks and spaces.

Specific food legislation is also a barrier for a number of small producers, whose production is traditional or homemade. The sanitary certification requirements, which include infrastructure that family production cannot provide, makes many products circulate in the informal market.

A major challenge is the creation of policies and alternatives for the urban population and the reinforcement of the town-country relationship. In urban centers, large food and product distribution establishments predominate, rather than small sales and businesses. It is worth remembering these establishments dominate the entire food production chain, from seeds to distribution, placing restrictions on what is eaten and what is produced by all other agriculturalists and the entire population.

Similarly, initiatives aimed at producing food in urban areas are still scarce. There are programs trying to guarantee food for the population living in cities, connecting urban consumers to rural producers,

but trade is still restricted to fairs, which are often periodic and not permanent and are located in specific neighborhoods, which restrict their public. In this respect, a necessary way to make such policies effective is expanding these intermediation spaces between producers and consumers.

The purpose is to articulate actions and empower them in a challenge to the agro food system controlled by corporations.

On the other hand, the existence of public policies to support production and trade for family agriculture paves the way to strengthen experiences combining public, governmental initiatives with those of social movements representing alternatives to the corporate market.

The largest challenge, however, is to build policies designed to end the sexual division of labor and inequality between men and women. The contradictory character of the Bolsa Família program is a good example of the difficulty in tackling both the separation and the hierarchy of productive and reproductive work. When women become managers of the resources received, the program, on one hand, promotes women’s autonomy in using the money, creating a sentiment of greater value among the beneficiaries. On the other hand, it reinforces women’s traditional role of responsibility for family care.

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Public policies aimed at targeting hunger and poverty, therefore, involve multiple actions that together gain strength in the fight against inequalities. These strategies contribute to strengthening family agriculture and small agriculturalists, fostering the development of agro ecology and a sustainable economy in the long run. Similarly, policies for women contribute to their economic autonomy and promote equality between genders. Thus, the dialogue between

public policies and social movements associated with food sovereignty, the solidary economy and feminism can pave the way for a fairer, more sustainable and egalitarian society.


The STRUGGLe FOR eQUALiTY

Public policies to tackle hunger, as we have seen, involve facing and eliminating poverty, as well as all forms of inequality – gender, race, ethnicity, etc. In this sense, actions must take into account those affected by hunger and poverty and in what way, considering the heterogeneity and specificities of each social group.

Food sovereignty, widely discussed throughout this document, brings extremely important contributions to thinking about food production, distribution and sales, by defending and valuing local culture and knowledge, protecting biodiversity and the sustainability of natural resources, and strengthening local economies and family agriculture production. Consequently, sovereignty points not only to the importance of the type and quality of the food produced, but to who produces it and who consumes it, trying to establish new product exchange and circulation dynamics, in a fairer, more solidary manner. As a part of this, women’s role is key in producing and consuming foods. Because of their socialization, women are the ones primarily responsible for ensuring the care and well-being of family members. In rural areas, it is women who grow the food for family consumption in yards and plots. In urban areas, they also play a key role in food: buying the products, cooking and feeding the other family members. Despite their importance, these activities were historically taken for granted, with no social recognition, and this still occurs today.

Consequently, public policies must be developed that focus specifically on women’s conditions. It is still difficult for women to participate in such policies, because of their socialization restricted to the domestic environment, historically distant from the public, social, economic, and political spaces.

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We’ve shown that we can survive based on the forest without destroying it, cutting down trees or burning anything. It is a very important process, an example by the women from the forest themselves. This is really important.”(Doçura Cooperar Cooperative – agro extractive settlement of Maracá – AP)

The group is a reference in women self-organization, in what women have managed to build. There are good things. People want to follow the example. Today, most people in the settlement are involved in agro ecological production, refusing to use poison.”(Group of Women Decided to Win – Mulunguzinho settlement – Mossoró – RN)

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SOMe STATeMeNTS BY wOMeN FOOd PROdUCeRS

I think women’s work for the town and the community is indeed very important, because if women’s work were not recognized, there wouldn’t be such a large supply of products.” (Xixá Group of Women – Itapurunga – GO)

Before, we had difficulties holding meetings, today we can have this communication relationship. Even though women have their limits. Some of them are very submissive to their husbands, but we can already see them in a different way, with different thoughts.” (Cootipesca – Tibau Cooperative of Fish – Tibau-RN)

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ACRONYMSAegre – Special Advisory on Gender, Race, and ethnicity

Ater – Technical Assistance and Rural extension

BPC – Continuing Social Assistance Benefit

CAR – Rural environmental Registry

dPMRQ - directorate for Policies for Rural and Quilombola women

FNde – National Fund for education development

iBGe – Brazilian institute of Geography and Statistics

incra – National institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform

ipea – institute of Applied economic Research

MdA – Ministry of Agrarian development

MdS – Ministry of Social development

PAA – Program of Food Acquisition

PCA – Food Card Program

Pnad – National Sampling Survey of Residences

Pnae – National Program for School Food

Pnater – National Policy of Technical Assistance

PNdTR - National Rural woman worker documentation Program

PNRA – National Plan for Agrarian Reform

POF – Family Budgets Survey

POPMR – Program of Productive Organization of Rural women

Pronaf – National Family Agriculture Program

SAF – Family Agriculture Secretariat

Sefa – State Secretariat of Finance

Sisvan – Nutritional Monitoring System

SPM – Secretariat of Policies for women

feminist economics and food sovereignty: progress and challenges ahead

Government & Nonprofit