Cooperativism contributes to the autonomy of rural women

In 2009, Ivanete de Souza, a farmer from the interior of Santa Catarina, faced one of her biggest challenges: assuming the presidency of the Jaraguá do Sul Agricultural Production Cooperative, of which she is a founding member, and which was created in 2004 to support the marketing of milk from small producers in the region. Five years after the cooperative was founded, the institution's highest management position, the presidency, was held by a woman.

“We had some problems and, in 2009, the then president left. During the elections someone said my name. I was voted in and held the presidency for eight years”, Ivanete recalls that, during her first term, she was the only one among men. 

In the second, she managed to bring two more women to the cooperative who took charge with her. Ivanete sought more knowledge about cooperativism and joined the National Union of Family Farming and Solidarity Economy Cooperatives (Unicafes), one of the affiliates of the National Union of Solidarity Cooperative Organizations (Unicopas).

“Being a woman was my main challenge. When I came out I heard from many people: she doesn't even know what she's doing. She shouldn't even be in there. I was scared to death of everything and everyone. There were some big gentlemen who told me: the cooperative has to continue, you have to manage. You are responsible. And I was scared to death of that. Until one day I discovered that I didn’t need to be afraid of them and I could face them as equals.”

With Ivanete's arrival as president, production began to change. From milk and bananas, the cooperative started working with vegetables. In the second year of their mandate, 2010, they began to serve several municipalities in the region through the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), and the leap was great.

According to Ivanete, from an annual turnover that was around R$90 thousand, the cooperative reached a peak of R$3,5 million. “Today we have 61 members, we serve four municipalities via PNAE, our flagship is vegetables and, this year, our revenue should be around R$3 million”, he celebrates.

More than that, another reason for pride is the work that began to be developed with women in the community. In 2016, the cooperative managed to set up a vegetable processing unit formed by a group of five women who peel, cut, pack and sell the products. It is a process of change that, according to her, is slowly being built.

“When we started with the processing unit run by women, they themselves were afraid, but today they have more strength. I always say: it's up to you to decide. I always symbolized that the elephant is a very large animal, but legend says that it is afraid of mice. And the mouse was me [laughs]. I achieved! When I lost my fear, I faced it on equal terms.”

For Ivanete, cooperativism is synonymous with elevating the soul, with evolution for women. She tells a case of another woman in the group in which her husband left the company and went to the farm to work with his wife because he saw how much she was evolving. “Now he comes and says to her: Oh, if next week you don't come and work with me in the fields, I'm going to sit here. He went to work on what she believes in, because she was able to manage her work, her time. Another case is of a cooperative member who arrived and said: Oh, my God, I need to make my husband do things at home. I always said it was to go little by little. She recently underwent surgery and her husband took care of everything at home. Seeing them gain this autonomy fills me with pride.”

2019 Campaign #Rural Women, Women with Rights

From October 1st to 15th, the #Rural Women, Women with Rights Campaign promotes 15 days of mobilization to value the contribution of rural workers to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to gender equality and the end of rural poverty. The guiding theme of the activist fortnight is “The future is together with rural women”, with the hashtag #JuntoComAsMulheresRurais.

The main objective of the campaign is to highlight the work promoted by fisherwomen, farmers, extractivists, indigenous people and people of African descent. The campaign in Brazil is coordinated by the Secretariat of Family Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa), in partnership with FAO, UN Women, the Specialized Meeting on Family Agriculture of Mercosul (REAF) and the Directorate- General of Rural Development of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay.