Yemen Crisis Brings Small Reprieve for Entrepreneurial Women

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Women & Economy

Najat Jumaan, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, Dean of the Faculty of Finance and Management at Ar-Rasheed Smart University and Board of Director Member at Jumaan Trading and Investment Co.

Najat Jumaan, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, Dean of the Faculty of Finance and Management at Ar-Rasheed Smart University and Board of Director Member at Jumaan Trading and Investment Co.

TORONTO, Aug 16 2024 (IPS) – Once upon a time, the Sheba (Seba’a) Kingdom (today’s Yemen) had a prominent queen. Women, in the presence of men, were held in a higher position, literally.


Things afterward have upended to the disadvantage of female Yemenis living under a strong-hold tribal and patriarchal system. 

Amid an eight year long war between the the government and Houthi rebels brought a humanitarian crisis considered to be one of the worst in the world, there is a small good news story. While the armed conflict has kept Yemeni men busy at the front(s), some Yemeni women have stumbled upon a societal and economic breather, stemming from a national need to generate an income for themselves and their families to stay afloat.

Women began venturing in small, low-risk businesses.

Dhekra Ahmed Algabri, executive director at Al-Amal foundation, praises the rise of women in many trades and commercial sectors, although they are “linked to conservative patterns established by society, such as sewing, hairdressing and styling, cooking, handicraft making, incense and perfume production and women’s clothing.”

Absence of an Integrated, Empowering System

Najat Jumaan, Dean of the Faculty of Commerce and Economics, Dean of the Faculty of Finance and Management at Ar-Rasheed Smart University and Board of Director Member at Jumaan Trading and Investment Co., believes that Yemeni women run projects here and there, “but they are not subject to an integrated system to empower and encourage them from a young age to be an active element in the economic and productive process.”

Nevertheless, some Yemeni women broke free from cultural limitations and into traditionally male-dominated fields, such as programming and engineering. Algabri explains that “during the ongoing conflict, women turned to e-commerce, e-marketing and professional services of consulting and training.”

Dhekra Ahmed Algabri, executive director at Al-Amal Foundation.

Dhekra Ahmed Algabri, executive director at Al-Amal Foundation.

The bright side businesswomen saw in the dark situation of Yemen was their existence in a closed market they knew inside-out.

“I can move in it and find solutions to several of its problems, and when you achieve things in a more natural and organic way, you attract public recognition and reap supplemental exposure,” says Eman Al-Maktari, co-founder and CEO of MOSNAD Talents Marketplace.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Gender Equality in Yemen underlines the need for “women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.”

However, there is a  lack of official and reliable numbers about the actual extent of women’s contribution in the economy. According to Jumaan, “women’s participation is very limited and they are poorer compared to men in Yemen.”

Her statement is confirmed by World Bank statistics which putes women’s participation in the labor force at 5.1 percent compared to 60.4 percent for men in 2023. The same study noted there were no official statistics for shares in businesses. Only 5.4 percent of women had bank accounts compared with 18.4 percent of men.

Obstacles and Social Media Blessing

Long-standing obstacles are deep rooted in the society’s culture and perpetuate across generations, such as male-female segregation and restricted movement for women (the imposed “mahram”). Individual exceptions might overcome some of the barriers as in the case of Al-Maktari, whose family is more open, but the majority face “a glass ceiling that prevents them from ascending, growing, continuing, and achieving profits,” says Jumaan.

To make matters worse, war related obstacles appeared. The airport of Sana’a was closed for a long time and hindered participating in meetings and conferences. Additionally, Al-Maktari finds that her Yemeni nationality prevented her “entering other countries to participate in opportunities available to other women around the world, which results in an unfair advantage. The undertakings I made would have had a two- to three-time greater return if I were in another country.”

The alternative rescue came from social media that opened vistas for Yemeni businesswomen to promote and show case their work. Nonetheless, it didn’t solve the problem of regional inaccessibility and foreign investors’ reluctance to join the fragile and volatile Yemeni market and expand there.

Eman Al-Maktari, Co-Founder and CEO of MOSNAD Talents Marketplace.

Eman Al-Maktari, Co-Founder and CEO of MOSNAD Talents Marketplace.

Incentives But Unclear Future

Civil society and donor organizations, the banking sector and the government are investing in “many incentives, initiatives and forms of support for businesswomen through training programs, workshops, financing, loans, professional networks and consultations,” highlights Algabri.

The General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Yemen also plays an important role, albeit not prominent in light of the crisis, to support the economic and commercial sector in the country.

Al-Maktari benefitted from mentorship and training programs to understand business and start one of her own.

“I received support from an Indian mentor in the field of IT, and it helped me greatly when I was emerging as a digital expert and found a platform to build projects and a name”.

Yet she describes the current situation in Yemen as “foggy,” with an unclear future for businesswomen in a country weighed down with multi-layered obstacles in women’s paths.

“Even economists are not capable of answering the question about our future. We cannot plan annually or quarterly and have very short-term business plans.”

Despite all challenges, hope is growing for Yemeni women. “If conditions and components of success are met, many of which are related to women and the belief in and perfection of their abilities, they can reach their economic power when given the opportunity to educate, learn, qualify, and gain experiences and talents,” says Jumaan.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Water Stories: The Well Seven Families and 400 Buffaloes Rely On

Active Citizens, Asia-Pacific, Civil Society, Development & Aid, Editors’ Choice, Environment, Featured, Gender, Headlines, Health, Human Rights, Inequality, Natural Resources, Population, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations, Water & Sanitation, Women & Economy

Water & Sanitation

Women in Khardariya village in Dang fetching water from a community well. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

Women in Khardariya village in Dang fetching water from a community well. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS

KATHMANDU, Aug 7 2024 (IPS) – In the rural village of Khardariya in the Dang district of Nepal, access to clean water is a major issue. Villagers depend on one poorly managed well for drinking water, cleaning, and feeding livestock.


Anjana Yadav stood near the well while a neighbor walked toward it to fetch a bucket of water.

“At least seven families and over 400 buffaloes rely on this well; this is the water that sustains the buffaloes, and we drink it too,” she said. “In summer, the water level goes down, and we suffer more,” Anjana told IPS.

According to government data, only 27 percent of the country’s population has access to pure drinking water. However, the government’s aim is to increase the number of people using safe drinking water to at least 90 percent by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals. But villages like Khardariya are still struggling to access enough water, let alone pure water.

“This water is not drinkable, but we don’t have any other option,” Niramala Yadava (Anjana’s daughter) says while showing the logged water around the well, “We know this water is not safe, but we’re forced to drink it, use it for cleaning, and even in the kitchen. We also have to manage for livestock too.”

Khardariya is one example where access to water is a major problem, and there are other areas where people are facing the same situation. The Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management claims that 80 percent of people have access to drinking water, but it’s not safe as per standards. Most of them still depend on surface water sources like rivers, ponds, and these sources are not necessarily safe to drink. And often time this water led to health consequences to the community where clean drinking water is not available.

Everyday Struggle

According to the World Health Organization’s Global Health Estimates (WHO GHE), one of the largest declines in the number of deaths is from diarrheal diseases, with global deaths falling from 2.6 million in 2000 to 1.5 million in 2019. But in Nepal even though cases are in decreasing trend, water related diseases are still a major concern, GHE data shows from 2000 to 2019 above 140 thousands of diarrheal cases are recorded per year.

Diarrheal diseases are one of the top ten causes of death in Nepal. According to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), diarrheal diseases ranked seventh in 2009 and ninth in 2019 in the list of top ten causes of death.

As Anjana Yadav in Dang, Sarita Rana Magar in Solukhumbu is struggling to get drinking water from the spring sourced tap, but it is not certain that the water is clean as per government standards. “We don’t have enough access to drinking water; even to get a couple of buckets of water is hard these days,” Magar says while waiting for her turn to fill water from the community tap in Lausasa village in the Khumbu region, where mountains stand right near her village. “It takes 25-30 minutes to fill one bucket (40-liter bucket) of water, and I need at least three buckets of water every day,” Magar said while keeping her bucket under the running tap.

Problem is Not Prioritizing

Even though the Government of Nepal claims that safe drinking water is a priority issue, the facts do not align with this assertion. In recent years, the budget for safe drinking water has been decreasing while the need is growing.

Madhu Timalsina, Senior Divisional Engineer at the Ministry of Water Supply, says that the government is not keen to expand basic drinking water safety.

“According to the data we have, 73 percent of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. The target is to reach 90 percent of the population with access to safe drinking water by 2030,” Timalsina says. “We don’t have the resources to sustain ongoing programs, and meeting the goal is far from achievable at this point. Water is not a priority for the government. We need resources.”

According to the Ministry, at a time when the demand for safe drinking water is increasing, the budget is shrinking. In the current fiscal year, the Ministry received over 28 billion Nepali rupees (about USD 208 million) as their budget, which was 42 billion (USD 313 million) in the previous fiscal year.

“It seems like in the coming year, it will decrease to 22-23 billion,” Timalsina said, “We have not been able to initiate new programs in recent years due to the lack of budget. Everything is ready, but we lack the resources.”

The Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Nepal (FDWSUN), which advocates for access to safe and contamination-free water for all, believes that the government is not taking the water issue seriously. “We have been continuously trying to create pressure, but the government is not willing to listen,” said Durga Chapagain, Senior Vice President of the FDWSUN, “The majority of users are still drinking water from open sources, and there is no budget allocated for drinking water projects.”

If the government truly intends to increase access to safe drinking water for up to 90 percent of the population by 2030, the budget should be allocated accordingly, according to Timalsina.

“To meet the target, we need to cover an additional 63 percent of the population within 6 years. The target is set, but we can’t achieve anything without the budget,” he explains. “We lack the resources to meet our needs, which is the primary limitation. Additionally, our springs are drying up, and water scarcity is becoming a major issue. Unfortunately, without resources, it’s not possible to do anything.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Chilean Fisherwomen Seek Visibility and Escape from Vulnerability

Biodiversity, Civil Society, Editors’ Choice, Environment, Gender, Headlines, Inequality, Labour, Latin America & the Caribbean, Natural Resources, Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations, Women & Economy

Women & Economy

Gatherer Cristina Poblete, from the town of Pichilemu, carries one of the sacks of freshly harvested seaweed. This coastal town in the O'Higgins region of central Chile is known worldwide for its large waves. Credit: Courtesy of Cristina Poblete

Gatherer Cristina Poblete, from the town of Pichilemu, carries one of the sacks of freshly harvested seaweed. This coastal town in the O’Higgins region of central Chile is known worldwide for its large waves. Credit: Courtesy of Cristina Poblete

PAREDONES, Chile, Aug 5 2024 (IPS) – The number of organisations that bring together fisherwomen who seek to be recognised as workers, make their harsh reality visible and escape the vulnerability in which they live is growing in Chile.


These women have always been present in the fishing sector, but have been ignored, classified as assistants, and relegated socially and economically.

There are 103,017 registered artisanal fisherpeople in Chile, and 26,438 of them are women who work as seaweed gatherers on the shore, known as algueras in Spanish, and related tasks.

According to statistics from the government’s National Fisheries Service  (Sernapesca), in 2023 there were 1,850 artisanal fisherpeople’s organisations in Chile, of which 81 were made up of women alone.

The fisheries sector in this long and narrow South American country of 19.5 million people exported 3.4 million tonnes of fish and seafood in 2021, bringing in USD 8.5 billion.

Chile is one of the 12 largest fishing countries in the world, being its industrial fishery the most economically relevant.

Meanwhile, artisanal fishing is carried out in 450 coves or inlets where groups of fisherpeople operate from the far north to the southernmost point of the country, stretching 4,000 kilometres in a straight line.

Seaweed harvesting, which is mainly carried out by women, lasts from December to April. In the remaining seven months, the algueras barely survive on their savings and must reinvent themselves in order to earn an income.

The invisible seawomen

Marcela Loyola, 55, is the vice-president of Agrupación de Mujeres de Mar (Seawomen Group) in the coastal town of Bucalemu, which belongs to the municipality of Paredones. It is 257 kilometres south of Santiago and part of the O’Higgins region, bordering the southern part of the capital’s metropolitan area.

The Agrupación brings together 22 algueras, as well as fish filleters, weavers who sew and place the hooks spaced out in the fishing nets, and shellfish shuckers, who extract their edible meat.

“The main problem is that we fisherwomen are invisible throughout the country. We have always been in the shadow of our husbands. There is a lack of recognition of women also from the authorities, in society and policies,” she told IPS in the Bucalemu cove.

“There are many trade unions, but their projects only reach men, never anything that serves women. And we don’t have health, welfare, nothing”, claims Loyola.

Together with Sernapesca, her group launched an activity to legalise workers in artisanal fishery.

“We held an application day and a lot of people came because they didn’t have a licence.  In Bucalemu alone, 60 people signed up. Some had fishing credentials, but no permit to collect cochayuyo (edible brown seaweed) or in other related activities,” she explained.

Bucalemu also hosted a National Meeting of Women of the Land and Sea on 31 May, attended by more than 100 delegates from different parts of Chile.

Gissela Olguín, 40, coordinator of the national Network of Seawomen in the O’Higgins region, told IPS that the meeting sought to defend seafood sovereignty.

“We are working to learn from seawomen about food sovereignty. From the right to land, water and seeds, we analysed how people of the sea are threatened today because the inequality of the rural model is now being repeated on the coast,” she said.

Marcela Loyola, vice-president of Agrupación de Mujeres de Mar in the coastal town of Bucalemu, at a local tourist lookout point. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Marcela Loyola, vice-president of Agrupación de Mujeres de Mar in the coastal town of Bucalemu, at a local tourist lookout point. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Women-only management area

Delfina Mansilla, 60, heads the Women’s Union of Algueras in the municipality of Pichilemu, also in O’Higgins, 206 kilometres south of Santiago. It brings together 25 members and is in charge of the La Puntilla management area, the only one given to women in central Chile.

The leader told IPS by telephone from her town that the management area has cochayuyo (Durvillaea antárctica) and huiro (Macrocystis integrifolia) seaweed, along with the bivalve molluscs called locos (Concholepas concholepas) as its main products.

The cochayuyo is extracted by going into the sea with a diving suit and using a knife to cut the stalk attached to the rocks so that the seaweed can grow back.  In the case of huiro, an iron barrette, called chuzo by the algueras and fishermen, must be used.

“Our main issue is that the men are bothered by our management area and come diving in. Some people don’t respect women and also go into an area that was given to us and that we have taken care of for years,” she said.

These women sell the locos to restaurants in Pichilemu, while the cochayuyo is traded “in green (the estimated extraction, not yet extracted)”, to middlemen in Bucalemu.

According to Olguín, there has been significant growth in women’s organising nationwide thanks to the Gender Equity Law, number 20820, passed in 2020.

“The labour of women have been invisible in the fishing sector, and even more so within the fisheries organisation because, although unions have women, they are in the minority,” she said.

The law, she explained, opened up the possibility for women to train and organise themselves.

In spite of this progress, male chauvinist mentality persists in the fishery.

“They believe women can’t be on the boats or they have smaller spaces for them in the cove. It is a behaviour of men who still think that women only help in the fishing industry, but don’t work in it,” she said.

María Godoy ties and prepares in her home in the coastal town of Bucalemu, in the Chilean municipality of Paredones, the packets of cochayuyo seaweed collected by her husband and daughter. Credit: Courtesy of Gisela Olguín

María Godoy ties and prepares in her home in the coastal town of Bucalemu, in the Chilean municipality of Paredones, the packets of cochayuyo seaweed collected by her husband and daughter. Credit: Courtesy of Gisela Olguín

Critical situation of the algueras

The leader describes the situation of women seaweed gatherers as bad.

“The women who work at sea live and sleep in little shacks with minimal conditions. They don’t have water or electricity and everyone has to make do as best they can.  The same goes for sanitation, they have to make makeshift toilets,” she said.

It is hard work because the timetable is set by the sea, she adds. The first low tides can be at 7:00 am or sometimes at noon in summer, with the sun over their heads.

“Conditions are always a bit extreme. Throwing seaweed out when cutting the cochayuyo is a job requiring much physical strength,” she explained.

Since the working season is short, the women prefer to stay in the shacks, improvised dwellings made of sticks and cloth that are erected on the sand or ground resembling tents.

“Here, women stop going to the sea only when their bodies prevent them from doing so. I know women over 70 who are still working on the shore because that’s how they subsist,” she added.

Another determining factor is the price of seaweed, which is set by buyers and ranges from 200 to 500 pesos per kilo (between 20 and 50 US cents).

The fisherwomen work long hours to extract more product. “It is a very vulnerable sector, with no social security or cultural recognition,” Olguín concluded Olguín.

Hortensia, Sonia, Cristina and Elizabeth, four seaweed workers from the Chilean municipality of Pichilemu, in front of the municipal building where they will meet the deputy mayor, Sergio Mella. The workers are seeking a concession and municipal premises to exhibit and sell their handicrafts, soaps and various products made from seaweed. The sale allows them to subsist during the southern winter, when seaweed extraction is banned. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Hortensia, Sonia, Cristina and Elizabeth, four seaweed workers from the Chilean municipality of Pichilemu, in front of the municipal building where they will meet the deputy mayor, Sergio Mella. The workers are seeking a concession and municipal premises to exhibit and sell their handicrafts, soaps and various products made from seaweed. The sale allows them to subsist during the southern winter, when seaweed extraction is banned. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

The threat to seaweed

Alejandra González, a doctor in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Chile, told IPS that some species of brown and red macroalgae found along Chile’s coasts are raw material for the food, pharmacological and medical industries.

This commercial value and high demand leads to direct extraction, “causing a reduction in natural populations and fragmentation, with a slow recovery rate of only those that survive harvesting”, she explains.

“This scenario makes populations less able to cope with environmental change, leaving them vulnerable to events such as Enos (El Niño), heat waves, increased tidal surges, changes in seawater pH, many of them associated with climate change,” she said.

Among the greatest threats to macroalgae are habitat destruction due to coastal port constructions, pollution caused by urbanization, and invasive species associated with ship movements and migrations.

Other threats are overexploitation related to human population growth, climate change caused by increased carbon dioxide (CO2) and its side effects, such as higher temperatures, storm surges and chemical changes.

According to González, the greatest threat to seaweed is the combination of all these variables.

Chile has developed various strategies for the conservation and management of natural seaweed meadows, but these measures are inadequate, argues the specialist.

“In Chile’s north, the exploitation of brown macroalgae from natural meadows is greater, because drying is free on the beaches themselves, but it is also affected by El Niño current events. While in the south it is necessary to invest in sheds or drying systems, it is more efficient to cultivate them because there are tamer bays,” she said.

González also believes that measures to recover natural seaweed meadows are not efficient “either because of legal loopholes, difficulties in on-site monitoring and/or other additional environmental variables such as those associated with climate change.”

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Solar Power and Biogas Empower Women Farmers in Brazil

Active Citizens, Biodiversity, Civil Society, Cooperatives, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Editors’ Choice, Energy, Environment, Featured, Food and Agriculture, Gender, Headlines, Integration and Development Brazilian-style, Latin America & the Caribbean, Projects, Regional Categories, TerraViva United Nations, Women & Climate Change, Women & Economy

Energy

Leide Aparecida Souza, president of the Association of Residents of the Genipapo Settlement in the rural area of Acreúna, a municipality in central-western Brazil, stands next to breads and pastries from the bakery where 14 rural women work. The women's empowerment and self-esteem have been boosted by the fact that they earn their own income, which is more stable than from farming, and provide an important service to their community. CREDIT: Marina Carolina / IPS

Leide Aparecida Souza, president of the Association of Residents of the Genipapo Settlement in the rural area of Acreúna, a municipality in central-western Brazil, stands next to breads and pastries from the bakery where 14 rural women work. The women’s empowerment and self-esteem have been boosted by the fact that they earn their own income, which is more stable than from farming, and provide an important service to their community. CREDIT: Marina Carolina / IPS

ACREÚNA/ORIZONA, Brazil , Apr 16 2024 (IPS) – A bakery, fruit pulp processing and water pumped from springs are empowering women farmers in Goiás, a central-eastern state of Brazil. New renewable energy sources are driving the process.


“We work in the shade and have a secure, stable income, not an unsteady one like in farming. We cannot control the price of milk, nor droughts or pests in the crops,” said Leide Aparecida Souza, who runs a bakery in the rural area of Acreúna, a municipality of 21,500 inhabitants in central Goiás.

“The Network is the link between the valorization of rural women, family farming and the energy transition. We chose family farmers because they are the ones who produce healthy food.” — Jessyane Ribeiro

The bakery supplies a variety of breads, including cheese buns and hot dog buns, as well as pastries, cakes and biscuits to some 3,000 students in the municipality’s school network, for the government’s school feeding program, which provides family farming with at least 30 percent of its purchases. Welfare institutions are also customers.

The bakery is an initiative of the women of the Genipapo Settlement, established in 1999 by 27 families, as part of the agrarian reform program implemented in Brazil after the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, which has so far settled 1.3 million families on land of their own.

Genipapo, the name chosen for the settlement, is a fruit of the Cerrado, the savannah that dominates a large central area of Brazil. Each settled family received 44 hectares of land and local production is concentrated on soybeans, cassava and its flour, corn, dairy cattle and poultry.

Six solar panels will reduce the costs of the women's bakery, installed on the former estate where 27 families were given land in Acreúna, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, as part of the country's ongoing agrarian reform program. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Six solar panels will reduce the costs of the women’s bakery, installed on the former estate where 27 families were given land in Acreúna, in the Brazilian state of Goiás, as part of the country’s ongoing agrarian reform program. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Bakery empowers rural women

The women of the Association of Residents of the Genipapo Settlement decided to create a bakery as a new source of income 16 years ago. They also gained self-esteem and autonomy by earning their own money. In general, agricultural and livestock income is controlled by the husbands.

Each of the women working at the bakery earns about 1,500 reais (300 dollars) a month, six percent more than the national minimum wage. “We started with 21 participants, now we have 14 available for work, because some moved or quit,” Souza said.

A year ago, the project obtained a solar energy system with six photovoltaic panels from the Women of the Earth Energy project, promoted by the Gepaaf Rural Consultancy, with support from the Socio-environmental Fund of the Caixa Econômica Federal, the regional bank focused on social questions, and the public Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

Gepaaf is the acronym for Management and Project Development in Family Farming Consultancy and its origin is a study group at the UFG. The company is headquartered in Inhumas, a city of 52,000 people, 180 km from Acreúna.

Due to difficulties with the inverter, a device needed to connect the generator to the electricity distribution network, the plant only began operating in March. Now they will see if the savings will suffice to cover the approximately 300 reais (60 dollars) that the bakery’s electricity costs.

Iná de Cubas stands next to the biodigester that she got from the Women of the Earth Energy project in the municipality of Orizona, in the center-east of the Brazilian state of Goiás. The biogas generated benefits the productive activities of small farmers in rural settlements, as do solar plants on a family or community scale. Image: Mario Osava / IPS

Iná de Cubas stands next to the biodigester that she got from the Women of the Earth Energy project in the municipality of Orizona, in the center-east of the Brazilian state of Goiás. The biogas generated benefits the productive activities of small farmers in rural settlements, as do solar plants on a family or community scale. Image: Mario Osava / IPS

“It’s not that much money, but for us every penny counts,” Souza said. Electricity is cheap in their case because it is rural and nocturnal consumption. Bread production starts at 5:00 p.m. and ends at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. from Monday to Thursday, according to Maristela Vieira de Sousa, the group’s secretary.

The industrial oven they use is low-consumption and wood-burning. There is another, gas-fired oven, which is only used in emergencies, “because it is expensive,” said de Sousa. Biogas is a possibility for the future, which would use the settlement’s abundant agricultural waste products.

Alternative energies make agribusiness viable

Iná de Cubas, another beneficiary of the Women of the Earth Energy project, has a biodigester that supplies her stove, in addition to eight solar panels. They generate the energy to produce fruit pulp that also supplies the schools of Orizona, a municipality of 16,000 inhabitants in central-eastern Goiás.

The solar plant, installed two years ago, made the business viable by eliminating the electricity bill, which was high because the two refrigerators needed to store fruit and pulp consume a lot of electricity.

The abundance of fruit residues provides the inputs for biogas production, an innovation in a region where manure is more commonly used.

The refrigerators in which Iná de Cubas keeps the fruit and fruit pulp that she prepares for sale to schools in Orizona in central Brazil consume a great deal of electricity. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

The refrigerators in which Iná de Cubas keeps the fruit and fruit pulp that she prepares for sale to schools in Orizona in central Brazil consume a great deal of electricity. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

“I only use an additional load of animal feces when I need more biogas,” said Cubas, who gets the manure from her neighbor’s cows, since she does not raise livestock.

On her five hectares of land, Cubas produces numerous species of fruit for her cottage industry.

In addition to typical Brazilian fruits, such as cajá or hog plum (Spondias mombin), pequi or souari nut (Caryocar brasiliense) and jabuticaba from the grapetree (Plinia cauliflora), she grows lemons, mangoes, oranges, guava and avocado, among others.

For the pulp, she also uses fruit from neighbors, mostly relatives. The distribution of her products is done through the Agroecological Association of the State of Goias (Aesagro), which groups 53 families from Orizona and surrounding areas.

Agroecology is the system used on her farm, where the family also grows rice, beans and garlic. The crops are irrigated with water pumped from nearby springs that were recovered by the diversion of a road and by fences to block access by cattle, which used to trample the banks.

“The overall aim is to strengthen family farming, the quality of life in the countryside, incomes, and care for the environment, and to offer healthy food, without poisonous chemicals, especially for schools,” explained Iná de Cubas.

Biodigesters made of steel and cement, solar energy for different purposes, including pumping water, rainwater collection and harvesting, are part of the “technologies” that the Women of the Earth Energy project is trying to disseminate, said Gessyane Ribeiro, Gepaaf’s administrator.

In the area where Iná de Cubas lives, the project installed five biodigesters and seven solar pumps for farming families, in addition to solar plants in schools, she said.

The eight solar panels on the roof of the Cubas family’s house, in the rural area of Orizona, make small agro-industrial processes viable, adding value to the wide diversity of native fruits from different Brazilian ecosystems, such as the Cerrado savannah and the Amazon rainforest, along with species imported throughout the country’s history. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Network of rural women

The Women of the Earth Energy Network, brought together by the project and coordinated by Ribeiro, operates in six areas defined by the government based on environmental, economic, social and cultural similarities. In all, it involves 42 organizations in 27 municipalities in Goiás.

The local councils choose the beneficiaries of the projects, all implemented with collective work and focused on women’s productive activities and the preservation of the Cerrado. All the beneficiaries commit themselves to contribute to a solidarity fund to finance new projects, explained agronomist Ribeiro.

“The Network is the link between the valorization of rural women, family farming and the energy transition,” she said. “We chose family farmers because they are the ones who produce healthy food.”

“We offer technological solutions that rely on the links between food, water and energy, to move towards an energy transition that can actually address climate change,” said sociologist Agnes Santos, a researcher and communicator for the Network.

Recovering and protecting springs is another of the Women’s Network’s activities.

Two solar panels run a pump installed in a spring in the forest to pump the water needed by the 29 cows owned by Nubia Lacerda Matias' family in Orizona, in the state of Goiás, near Brasilia. Thus the cows stopped drinking water in the springs, which are now fenced off, vital to protect the water source for local families living downstream. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Two solar panels run a pump installed in a spring in the forest to pump the water needed by the 29 cows owned by Nubia Lacerda Matias’ family in Orizona, in the state of Goiás, near Brasilia. Thus the cows stopped drinking water in the springs, which are now fenced off, vital to protect the water source for local families living downstream. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Nubia Lacerda Matias celebrates the moment she was invited to join the movement. She won a solar pump, made up of two solar panels and pipes, which bring water to her cattle that used to damage the spring, now protected by a fence and a small forest.

“It’s important not only for my family, but for the people living downhill” where a stream flows, fed by various springs along the way, she said.

But the milk from the 29 cows and corn crops on her 9.4-hectare farm are not enough to support the family with two young children. Her husband, Wanderley dos Anjos, works as a school bus driver.

Iná de Cubas’ partner, Rosalino Lopes, also works as a technician for the Pastoral Land Commission, a Catholic organization dedicated to rural workers.

In his spare time, Lopes invents agricultural machines. He assembles and combines parts of motorcycles, tractors and other tools, in an effort to fill a gap in small agriculture, undervalued by the mechanical industry and scientific research in Brazil.

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Unpaid Caregivers, a Symbol of Inequality in Chile

Civil Society, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Editors’ Choice, Featured, Headlines, Human Rights, Labour, Latin America & the Caribbean, Regional Categories, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations, Women & Economy

Women & Economy

On International Women's Day on Mar. 8, thousands of Chilean women of all ages took to Santiago's central Alameda avenue to demonstrate peacefully for several hours and turn the Chilean capital into a stage for protest and demands for their rights. Some of them were women caregivers accompanied by dependent women. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS - In Chile, like elsewhere in Latin America, unpaid caregivers—mostly women—bear the responsibility of caring for individuals with disabilities, the elderly, and children, often leaving them without access to paid work or personal time

On International Women’s Day on Mar. 8, thousands of Chilean women of all ages took to Santiago’s central Alameda avenue to demonstrate peacefully for several hours and turn the Chilean capital into a stage for protest and demands for their rights. Some of them were women caregivers accompanied by dependent women. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS

SANTIAGO , Mar 20 2024 (IPS) – In Chile, as in the rest of Latin America, the task of caring for people with disabilities, the elderly and children falls to women who, as a result, do not have access to paid jobs or time for themselves.


Unpaid domestic and care work is crucial to the economies of the region, accounting for around 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Measurements by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) found that in 16 Latin American countries, women spend between 22.1 and 42.8 hours per week on unpaid domestic and care work. Men only spend between 6.7 and 19.8 hours.

Ana Güezmes, director of ECLAC’s Division for Gender Affairs, told IPS that “in most countries women work longer total hours, but with a lower proportion of paid hours.”

“This work, which is fundamental for sustaining life and social well-being, is disproportionately assigned to women. This situation impacts women’s autonomy, economic opportunities, labor and political participation and their access to leisure activities and rest,” Güezmes said at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago.

The situation is far from changing as it is replicated in young women who devote up to 20 percent of their time to unpaid work.

Paloma Olivares, president for Santiago of the women's organization Yo Cuido, works in her office in the working-class municipality of Estación Central, in the northeast of the Chilean capital. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Paloma Olivares, president for Santiago of the women’s organization Yo Cuido, works in her office in the working-class municipality of Estación Central, in the northeast of the Chilean capital. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Women left on their own as caregivers

Paloma Olivares, 43, chairs the Yo Cuido Association in Santiago, Chile, which brings together 120 members, only two of them men.

“Women caregivers are denied the right to participate on equal terms in society because we are forced to choose between exercising our rights or doing caregiving work. And we cannot choose because it is a job we do for a loved one, for a family member.” — Paloma Olivares

“Women caregivers are denied the right to participate on equal terms in society because we are forced to choose between exercising our rights or doing caregiving work. And we cannot choose because it is a job we do for a loved one, for a family member,” she told IPS.

“We are left in a position of inequality, of absolute vulnerability because you have to devote your life to supporting someone else at the expense of your personal life,” she said.

Olivares stopped working to care for Pascale, her granddaughter, who was born with cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus.

Three days after her birth, a bacterium became lodged in her central nervous system. She was hospitalized for almost a year and became severely dependent.

At the time, she was given a seven percent chance of survival. Today she is eight years old, goes to school and lives an almost normal life thanks to the work of her caregivers.

She is now cared for by her mother Valentina, who had her at the age of 15. Paloma was able to return to paid work, but her daughter abandoned her studies to take care of Pascale.

“When you start being a caregiver, friendships end, because no one can keep up. Even the family drifts away. That’s why most caregiving families are single-parent, the woman is left alone to care because the man can’t keep up with the pace and the emotional and economic burden,” she said.

Olivares participated from Mar. 12 to 14 in a public hearing, digital and in person, on the right to care and its interrelation with other rights, in a collective request of several social organizations and the governments of Chile and other Latin American countries before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court), based in San Jose, Costa Rica,

In the request for an opinion from the IACHR Court, “we asked the Court to take a stance on the right to care and how the rights of women in particular have been violated because there are no public policies in this regard. We want the Court to pronounce itself on the right to care and how the States should address it so that this right is guaranteed and so the rights of caregivers are no longer violated,” she explained.

It is expected that the Court’s pronouncement on the matter will come out in April and could establish minimum parameters regarding women caregivers for Chile and other Latin American countries.

Critical situation for women caregivers

Millaray Sáez, 59, told IPS by telephone from the southern Chilean city of Concepción that her son Mario Ignacio, 33, “is no longer the autonomous person he was. Since 2012 he has become a baby.”

She chairs the AML Bío Bío Corporación, an association of women in the Bío Bío region created in 2017 to address the question of female empowerment and today dedicated to the issue of caregivers.

“I have been a caregiver for 30 years for my son who has refractory epilepsy. He became prostrate in 2012 as a result of medical negligence,” said the international trade engineer who has become an expert in public policies on care with a gender perspective.

Sáez said “the situation of women caregivers is very bad, very precarious. There is a single cause, which is the work of caregiving, but the consequences are multidimensional…. from physical deterioration to the lack of legislation to protect against forms of violence, and ranging from the family to what society or the State adds.”

She also pointed to the economic consequences of dependent care.

She cited cases in which caregivers spend over 150 dollars a month on diapers alone for a person who needs them. And she pointed out that the government provides an economic aid stipend of just 33 dollars a month.

Teresa Valdés, head of the Gender and Equity Observatory of the Catholic University of Chile, praises the new registry of caregivers promoted by the Chilean government, but underlines the importance of municipal experiences and initiatives that promote homes and care centers to facilitate the lives of women caregivers. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Teresa Valdés, head of the Gender and Equity Observatory of the Catholic University of Chile, praises the new registry of caregivers promoted by the Chilean government, but underlines the importance of municipal experiences and initiatives that promote homes and care centers to facilitate the lives of women caregivers. CREDIT: Orlando Milesi / IPS

The magnitude of the problem

It is a pending task to determine the number of women caregivers in Chile.

The government of leftist President Gabriel Boric created a system for caregivers to register and receive a credential that gives them access to public services.

“The credential is the gateway to the Chile Cuida System. With it we seek to make them visible in services and institutions and to reward them for their work by saving them waiting time in daily procedures,” the Minister of Women and Gender Equity, Antonia Orellana, explained to IPS.

So far, there are 85,817 people registered, of whom 74,650 are women, or 87 percent of the total, and 11,167 are men, according to data provided to IPS on Mar. 14 by the Undersecretariat of Social Services of the Ministry of Social Development and Family.

But Chile has 19.5 million inhabitants, and “17.6 percent of the adult population has some degree of disability and, therefore, requires the daily care and support of other people in the home,” the minister said.

That means 3.4 million Chileans depend on a caregiver.

According to Orellana, facing the care scenario projected by the aging of the population will require the collaboration of everyone to “create and sustain an economic and productive system that generates decent work and formal employment, leaving no one behind.”

Other urgent demands by women

Sociologist Teresa Valdés, head of the Gender and Equity Observatory, told IPS that there are many social problems facing Chilean women today, “especially those related to access to health care, social security, unequal pay and access to different goods and services.”

Valdés regretted that the term “women caregivers” is used to refer to the role that women play and the tasks that are culturally assigned to them as a priority.

“We are all caregivers, all women work double shifts. The time-use survey shows that we work an additional 41 hours per week of so-called unpaid reproductive care work,” she said.

According to Valdés, the main advance in this problem is to include it in the debate because these are policies that require a lot of resources and extensive development, since they have to do with the structure of the labor market.

“Part of the proposal should be how to ‘de-genderize’, how care becomes a task of shared responsibility and not only that women have more time to take on the care tasks,” she said.

“When we call women caregivers, we are referring to the group most affected by the conditions of sexual division of labor and family reproduction,” she added.

The expert proposes progressively identifying ways to support women caregivers in order to provide them with available time and take care of their mental health.

She praised the programs promoted by some municipalities to free up time for these women to enjoy leisure and self-care.

“We have to move towards a cultural conception that we are all dependent. Today I depend on you, tomorrow you depend on me. Care is a social task in which I take care of you today so that you can take care of me tomorrow. And that is something that has to start from the earliest childhood,” she argued.

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Nigerian Women Challenge ‘Colonialist’ Patriarchy

Africa, Civil Society, Featured, Gender, Gender Identity, Headlines, TerraViva United Nations, Women & Economy, Women in Politics

Women & Economy

Bukes Saliu, a forklift driver, is a Nigerian woman who challenging stereotypes. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

Bukes Saliu, a forklift driver, is a Nigerian woman who challenging stereotypes. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

LAGOS, Sep 28 2023 (IPS) – Bukes Saliu wakes up very early every workday to beat the gruesome Lagos traffic to head to a job quite unusual for a woman to engage in Nigeria. She is a forklift operator in one of the busy depots in the coastal city, a task traditionally meant for men in the West African country.


In a country where women are seen as second-class citizens and whose roles are expected to be confined to the kitchen, Saliu is not letting patriarchal norms put her in a box.

“People are always thrilled when I tell them what I do. Sometimes I get snide remarks from some men I work with, but I don’t allow that to get to me,” Saliu says.

In August 2022, her curiosity was piqued when she came across a post on WhatsApp from her friend featuring a woman confidently posed beside a forklift machine. That ignited her interest in the job. Soon after, she enrolled in training to become a skilled forklift operator.

“It was a change of career path for me. I used to be a project manager with a non-profit, but I left the job to be a forklift operator. The first day I started work, I was a bit afraid, but now I operate the machine like any other man would do. I believe that women should be allowed at the table because it brings different perspectives, ideas, and experiences,” she adds.

Patriarchy Lives in Nigeria

Discrimination against women has been a serious problem in Nigeria. Women still grapple with an array of challenges and are marginalized despite the Nigerian constitution providing for gender equality and nondiscrimination

Women face a heavier burden of violence, and different types of bias, which creates significant obstacles in their quest for gender equality. This is frequently caused by unfair laws, religious and cultural traditions, gender stereotypes, limited education opportunities, and the unequal impact of poverty on women.

Although the government has attempted to tackle these deep-rooted issues, the pace of progress remains sluggish. Women’s representation within politics and decision-making spheres remains poor. For example, out of a total of 15,307 candidates in the 2023 general elections, only 1,550 were women. Only three women were elected as senators as against nine in the last election, and only one woman emerged as a presidential candidate.

Women are often excluded from economic prospects. Within Nigeria’s populace exceeding 200 million, a mere 60.5 million people contribute to its labor force. Among this workforce, around 27.1 million women participate, a significant portion of whom find themselves involved in low-skilled employment. Nigeria’s position on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index is a lowly 123rd out of 156 nations.

Swimming Against the Tide

A limited number of women are challenging conventional gender norms for the purpose of livelihood, stepping into roles that are male dominated in Nigeria. However, this transition is often met with resistance and negative reactions.

In 2021, Iyeyemi Adediran gained widespread attention for her exceptional mastery of driving long-haul trucks for oil companies. However, despite her remarkable skill, the then 26-year-old shared that she faced derogatory remarks for daring to break gender norms associated with truck driving—an occupation traditionally considered male-dominated.

In 2015, Sandra Aguebor, Nigeria’s first female mechanic, gained widespread attention for her all-female garages across the country. However, she revealed that her mother initially did not support her ambitions, believing that fixing cars should only be done by men.

Faith Oyita, a shoemaker in Benue State, Nigeria, is not letting patriarchal norms stop her. Despite Aba, a growing men-led market in southeast Nigeria, dominating the shoemaking industry, Oyita has been determined to make a name for herself since 2015, even though she resides kilometers away. She says she has trained over 300 other people on how to make shoes.

“When I first started, I didn’t care about the challenges that came with shoemaking. I had a deep passion for it, and I wanted to beautify people’s legs. Even though it was a skill dominated by men, I was determined to do things differently. I knew that greatness doesn’t come from convenience. In the beginning, many people questioned why I chose shoemaking. Even the man who taught me was hesitant and doubted my potential. I was the only female among all his apprentices, and many assumed that I came because I wanted to date him. Despite all the negative remarks, I never gave up,” she tells IPS.

Patriarchy Came Through Colonialism

“A lot of what is happening today is not how we originally lived our lives as Nigerian women. Patriarchy actually entered our society during the colonial era. Before colonization, both men and women were able to do things without being restricted by gender. Historically, women were involved in trading goods and services, and they could even marry multiple wives for themselves.

“However, when the colonialists arrived, they distorted our culture and, using religion, promoted the idea that men held more power. We should strive to correct this narrative. It’s unfortunate that we have been socialized to believe that men should always be in leadership positions and that women should only be in a man’s home,” says Añuli Aniebo Ola-Olaniyi, Executive Director, HEIR Women Hub.

Speaking further, Ola-Olaniyi argues that women who want to break gender norms must have a change of mindset and be ready to face challenges.

“The country that colonized us has their women driving buses and flying planes. They have progressed from where they colonized us. But Nigeria has failed to empower its women. When a Nigerian woman does something that is traditionally seen as only for men, it is seen as a big accomplishment. However, she has always been capable of doing those things. It’s just that the opportunities were not available. I don’t even think it’s a switch in gender roles. I believe that women are simply starting to realize their potential,” she tells IPS.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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