WUNRN
BRAZIL - RURAL WOMEN MARCH FOR
RIGHTS, WAGE EQUALITY, LAND +
The women, or “Margaridas,”
which means “Daisies” in Portuguese, wore purple shirts and straw hats – the
symbol of their movement. They marched and cheered for the speakers, who gave
passionate speeches on platforms in front of the Brazilian Parliament.
“The Daisies’ March is a
demonstration that pressures the government for women’s rights, wage equality,
land distribution for family agriculture – that is, policies that favor women
and rural workers in general,” says Maria Luiza dos Santos, a rural worker from
Afonso Cunha, a city in the interior of Maranhão state.
Rejane Pitanga, a congresswoman
from the Federal district, says the movement benefits all women.
“Although the march is
organized by and for rural women workers, their demands are at the best
interest of all women and society as a whole,” says Pitanga, a member of the
Workers’ Party.
She says gender equality is the
key to eliminating poverty.
“In
She says women in rural areas
and forests face extra hardship.
“Poverty also varies from
region to region,” she says. “We have to keep in mind that the reality in the forests
and farms is much more affected by lack of resources and infrastructure.”
Thousands of Brazilians
converged in the capital last week to call for improved rights for women who
work in rural areas and forests at the fourth March of the Daisies. They also
presented a list of demands to Rousseff, who, calling herself a Daisy, promised
various initiatives. Although organizers and participants called the march a
success, they cautioned that reforms must be more far-reaching and efforts more
consistent.
The National Confederation of
Workers in Agriculture, the largest rural workers’ union in
She was shot in 1983 at age 50.
Many allege that a wealthy landowner arranged her assassination because of her
activism on behalf of rural workers, but the court found the accused men
innocent. Still, she has since then become a symbol for the feminist struggle
for land, work, equality and justice.
Under the theme “Sustainable
Development With Justice, Autonomy, Equality and Freedom,” the fourth march,
held every few years, was the largest yet.
Kelly Cristina Gonçalves, a
member of the Articulation of Brazilian Women, a nonpartisan feminist
organization that encourages the political participation of women, says the
attendees represented even more people back home.
“We were expecting 100,000
people in the march, but the official number was 70,000,” she says.
“Nevertheless, we still consider that the real march went way beyond 100,000
people because we have to remember that who came to the march were leaders from
all over the country. So, in general, each of these leaders was representing many
more people who did not have the conditions to travel all the way to Brasília.”
Gonçalves called the workers’
attendance an achievement.
“This was a true achievement by
the rural workers,” she says. “It was very inspiring to see all those
courageous people, who, in some cases, spent four days traveling on a bus to
get here, in addition to the four hours marching under the sun, fighting for
their rights with a smile on their faces.”
Delegations came from different
states and organizations to join the march. As they arrived, they erected their
tents in a park in Brasília, building what they called the “City of
The city buzzed with
representatives from many organizations who brought handcrafts from their
regions to sell and exchange with their fellow Daisies. Nongovernmental
organizations also distributed informative material about women’s health and
gender equality.
Gonçalves says that, although
the infrastructure was precarious, the city was beautiful with the many
passionate Daisies.
“What impressed me the most was
their resistance, their conviction and their will to make a difference,” she
says. “These are the people who provide food to our country, and now they were
providing fuel to our cause.”
Pitanga says the march’s main
victory is gaining visibility for the causes championed by the rural women
workers.
“It projects women as
protagonists of federal politics, something that would be unimaginable a few
decades ago,” she says.
Sen. Lídice da Mata from
“The women came, fought and
stopped the traffic – which is a great victory in itself,” she says, laughing.
“But, of course, the main victory was to present our needs to the president and
be heard.”
Before the march, organizers
held forums in various states to vote for recommendations in order to create an
official document with demands. They then presented the communiqué with 150
items to Rousseff, who said she also considered herself a Margarida.
Rousseff responded to the
Margaridas on the day after the march. She promised to build 16 basic health
floating units in the rivers of the forests, as well as 10 reference centers to
enforce health and safety standards in the workplace, by 2012. In addition, the
president committed to investing more in family-owned farming immediately and
to implement a national program on agroecology, the application of ecological
principles to agriculture, among other measures beneficial to women from the
forests and rural communities.
“Rousseff reunited the media,
civil society organizations and the ministers and answered to the demands of
the Margaridas with the launching of a national program on maternal health, for
example,” Gonçalves says. “Although, I believe that she left much to be desired
in her response.”
After the presidential address,
the Margaridas went back to the City of
Buses left Brasília at dusk
before diverging in different directions to return the Daisies to their
hometowns across the huge country. Back in their real lives, the Margaridas
returned to work in the forests and the countryside to wait for the
improvements the president promised.
Evaluating the march, Gonçalves
says that the Margaridas’ agenda left much to be desired in regards to feminist
demands.
“Sexual and reproductive
health, including the demand to decriminalize abortion, a constant topic in the
feminist movement in
Paulo Rubem, a congressman from
the Democratic Workers’ Party, says that the Margaridas have achieved several
privileges regarding social security and access to health services for rural
women workers, as well as combated much of the discrimination in the labor
market, since the march’s inception.
Since the inaugural year, the
Margaridas have pressured the government to implement policies and guarantee
various rights. Among other accomplishments, the march has achieved the right
for rural women workers to retire at age 55, has expanded rural women’s access
to identification documents to allow them to benefit from government policies
and has entitled them to gain property through land reform.
Rubem says that to achieve even
more concrete results, the women’s movement needs a more permanent presence in
Parliament in addition to occasional events like the March of the Daisies.
“There is still a lot to be
done, of course,” he says. “As a man, I can say we have a debt of centuries
with the rights of women. I believe that only with pressure and mobilization
can we transform marginalization and discrimination into equality.”