Brussels, 27/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The public debate on equal opportunities held on Monday afternoon at the Agriculture Council highlighted the need to improve the participation and the situation of women in the rural world. After this debate, the Council adopted conclusions.
Belgian Minister Annemie Neyts (like her counterpart from the Netherlands, Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst), felt the role played by women is being increasingly recognised, especially in the field of diversification of agricultural activity. Speaking for Sweden, Margareta Winberg recalled that a true division of power between the two sexes was a question of democracy. Her country has always followed an "active policy in this field", she said.
She recommended a better distribution of the resources of Community "Leader" programmes, especially to improve access for women to land ownership. The new French Minister of Agriculture, Herve Gaymard, placed emphasis on a balanced participation of men and women in the decision-making process, notably by combating all forms of discrimination, and stressed the problem of the invisibility of women's work. To remedy that, they should, he says, define a professional status (social rights, including a joint status as collaborator with rights to pensions and invalidity pensions). In Portugal, said minister Armando Sevinate Pinto, the woman is recognised especially for her role as multi-purpose worker (preserving the cultural identity and heritage). Germany's Renate Kunast declared that in the rural world, 40% of women's activities stemmed from farming, and that it thus contributed to over 50% of the family revenue. "Women in our country traditionally benefit from an important status", Raimo Tammilehto, made a point of recalling before adding that half the jobs occupied by women in Finland in the rural word were full time jobs. In addition to training and agricultural credits open to women, the government has set criteria enabling women to be guaranteed representivity of at least 40%, said Tammilehto. For Margeret Beckett (UK), the Council should take advantage of the mid-term review of the CAP so that more money went to women. Austrian Minister Wilhelm Molterer placed emphasis on the importance of rendering visible the dual burden of women in rural areas. Luxembourg stresses that women need help in reconciling the economic activities of family life. Giovanni Alemano, (Italy) called on the Commission to review certain rural development programmes to enable the spirit of entrepreneurship to be promoted among women. The nice words of the Amsterdam Treaty must be reflected in sectoral policies, said Denmark's Mariam Fischler Boel, placing emphasis on women's participation in the decision-making process. Commission Franz Fischler recalled that 37% of jobs in European farming were in the hands of women, stipulating that thanks to rural development measures, Member states could take concrete measures to improve the lot of women in that sector and that thanks to the "Leader" programmes, women are better prepared to assume a political role in different bodies.
In its conclusions, the Council calls for equal opportunities for men and women to be incorporated in programmes funded by the Structural Funds and encourages Member States (particularly the ones that haven't done so) to carry out a systematic assessment of their policies, legislation, strategy and development programmes before they are adopted in order to ensure that they do not discriminate against women and to ensure they promote sexual equality as far as possible. The ministers are promoting a men-women balance in the decision-making process which will strengthen grass roots democracy and have a decisive impact on the life and future of rural communities.