Transcript:
Hello from Spain, here from Málaga. Well, I just got home from work, it’s 5 o’clock, we haven’t had lunch yet, but Yuli asked me to send a short video talking a little bit about Women’s Day, my relationship with ecology, with women, how I see women in the countryside and so on. The truth is that I came to ecology by chance because I’ve always been very interested in food and nutrition, and the fact is that I was tired of office work. I was looking for a job that I would enjoy, a job that was part of my vocation and not just filing papers as an engineer. I found a job offer from the cooperative, I applied, and Cristóbal and Manolo trusted me. And so, by chance, I ended up in organic farming thanks to the Guadalhorce Cooperative project, which I think is a very nice and interesting project because it supports small farmers.
What difference do I see between male and female farmers? Well, the same difference I see between male and female engineers. In our case, male engineers do engineering work, male farmers do farming work, and women who work in agriculture and engineering do engineering and farming work, but they also usually take care of raising children, the family, the home, and work. In my case, the shared responsibility is fairly balanced, but I am still the main breadwinner and the main carer for the children. And that takes a lot of time because it’s two separate lives. For example, I have Bicho here, my dog, and in the end we are carers. So, not only at home, but also outside the home, we have to devote time not only to work, but also, whether we like it or not, to the family. We sacrifice more and lose more professionally in that sense.
Here in Spain, it is true that there is a somewhat preconceived idea of ecology, and the truth is that the type of ecology we practice in the cooperative and in this project is what I have fallen in love with, because it is not a certified ecology, as they say here in Spain, with a seal of approval, but rather a real ecology, committed to the environment, which I believe is the future. And in terms of its relationship with women, well, if there are already few women in the field of ecology, there are even fewer in this area. I think there is a lack of women working in the field, possibly because of family issues, but we are strong and we are brave and we are entrepreneurs.
Finally, what do I wish for women in France, Belgium and around the world? Well, the same thing I wish for my daughter: that when the time comes, she won’t have a mental burden simply because she continues to work, wants to travel for her job or wants to devote herself to what she loves, and that this won’t be a mental burden because she doesn’t devote all her time to raising her children. Or that if she freely decides not to have children in the future, it won’t be an obstacle or a handicap for her because there are a series of comments or judgements from people because she has decided not to start a family. In this sense, I think this is what we women are judged most harshly for: having a career rather than a family. And for women, I therefore ask for this: equality, namely not to be judged as men are not, for example. And lots of courage, good luck and lots of strength.
And NO to war !
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