Women Gather In Mascota

As part of the activities of the project “Deforestation-Free Meat in Free Grazing Systems: a Production and Marketing Model in Jalisco”, implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Territorial Development (Semadet) in coordination with Fondo Noroeste y Occidente A.C. (Fonnor) and with funding from the Government of Norway and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), an exchange of experiences among women ranchers was held.

This meeting took place at Rancho “La Esmeralda” located in Mascota, Jalisco, and was attended by 21 women cattle ranchers who participate in the Field Schools of the Intermunicipal Board for the Integral Management of the Lower Ayuquila River Basin (JIRA), the Intermunicipal Board for the Environment of the South Coast (JICOSUR), the Intermunicipal Board for the Integral Management of the Lower Ayuquila River Basin (JIRA), the Intermunicipal Board for the Environment of the South Coast (JICOSUR), the Intermunicipal Board for the Integrated Management of the Coahuayana River Basin (JIRCO), the Intermunicipal Board for the Environment of the Western Sierra and Coast (JISOC) and the Intermunicipal Board for the Environment of the Valleys Region (JIMAV), as well as personnel from the Jalisco Ministry of the Environment and Fonnor.

Through a workshop, the women participants described the individual and collective strategies they have adopted to address gender inequalities in sustainable livestock farming. Integration, visibilization and group diagnosis dynamics were carried out in order to recognize each other in livestock activities such as ownership of cattle, land and horseshoe iron.

A circle of knowledge activity was also implemented to share experiences, receive information, know each other’s stories, listen, learn and teach; through this detonating phrase “in which we put ourselves at the service of the other, in which we asked and gave, listened, trusted the other and received wisdom, recognized the value of what we know: from problems with ticks, to raising children…”, the impressions of the participants were collected, on the importance of these spaces.

The following phrases compile the feelings and comments of the women ranchers: “knowing that there are other women encourages you to continue being a rancher”, “they help us to build more confidence in ourselves”, “we talk about other limits that we “carry inside”, “we know different ways to respond to a problem”, “give and receive support”, “feel a touch in the heart”, “form bonds”. During the implementation of the deforestation-free beef project, the gender perspective and inclusion has been addressed in a cross-cutting manner through actions embodied in the “Gender and Youth Plan”. At this event, the women ranchers recognized the gaps in mobility, time and resources in relation to gender inequalities and acknowledged that there is much work to be done both personally and collectively.