Family as a trap: the other side of family agriculture

Abstract: This study evaluates the extent to which women-focused development projects
promote change of gender relations in the rural area, contributing to the larger social change.
The research developed in the Cariris region of Paraba, in reform agrarian settlements and
agro-villas. Here the Dom Helder Camara Project (PDHC), of the Brazilian Ministry of
Agrarian Development, has been implemented with feminist NGO management partners, to
promote autonomy among women, and to guarantee income-generating alternatives in for the
area. The strategy was shaped by the Gender and Development/GAD politics of the 1990s,
and the region studied exhibits paradox and dilemma in relation to the success of GAD based
policies.
Key words: Gender, empowerment, development projects, agrarian reform settlements,
Cariris

INTRODUCTION
In this paper are presented some of the research results obtained observing the success
of womens development projects seeking to guarantee gender equity in gender relations and
their reformation in the rural area of the Cariri in the state of Paraba (Brazil). The crucial
questions are:
Do development projects such as the Projeto Dom Helder Cmara (PDHC), feminist
NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), partnership entities, and public institutions,
effectively influence the traditional gender relations and generate new attitudes and social
change?
Does participation in the projects promote new attitudes?
Are there evidences of change in the division of labor?
Does the change of gender roles provoke new conflicts, and how are they dealt with?
Do these actions have the capacity to produce new rural area characters that generate new
cultural patterns and new attitudes to influence the community?
Do they promote fissures in daily life or in individual lives?
Do they have the power of generating ruptures that lead to cultural change?

What impact do these projects and programs have on the promotion of citizenship, autonomy,
equity, and emancipation of the subaltern condition of rural women?
Public policy and projects have as objectives the promotion of autonomy and emancipation
for women, as well as to guarantee income alternatives in the rural environment. However,
from the perspective of Feminist Theory and Gender Studies what matters in evaluating a
project is whether it is able to affect gender relations, sexual roles, and reorganize the division
of labor between the sexes. Did the project effectively bring more power and rights to
women? The feminist analysis brings with its position a natural interest in the dimension of
the gender inequalities. It is the kind of analysis which seriously considers both the speech
and the silence that marks the discourse. Considering that gender dynamics are not static, it is
not possible to study women without understanding their silence. Innumerable development
projects focused on women and income generation, still neglect promotion of the gender
relation towards democratic and non-hierarchical bases. These projects typically focus on
income, work, the conquest of greater social mobility, and higher self-esteem for women,
which do not substitute for complete transformation of the gender relation or the redistribution
of power between the sexes. Full empowerment presents challenges which are yet to be
overcome. It is not enough to know that the lives of women have changed, but that they have
reached autonomy and the capacity to manage their own destinies, not to remain locked in
intricate traditional relations, bargaining for space, for mobility, and to be heard.
Interventions can break repetition and permit the possibility of variation. New
possibilities can be opened up to challenge the hierarchical gender binary and rigid codes of
repeated practice by giving new meanings where possible.
The PDHC and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), for the Southern
Common Market or MERCOSUR, seek to ensure gender equity, to reformat the traditional
relationships between men and women through income generation projects within the family
farm, seen as vital to economic security. Hence the implementation of policies aiming to
support social equity, since the family farm is considered an asset and the source for political,
social, cultural, and environmental stability, in the regions and or countries involved. Gender
equity is one of the elements of this differentiated policy, and is internalized and fundamental
to the success of MERCOSUR.
The public policies for family farmers anticipate the gradual reduction of state involvements
in the economy. The intention is to promote the modernization with a view to the market.
According to Suarez (1995), rural development aims to make family production units in the
field competitive. The domestic units would be converted into business units based on family

labor. The competitive market requires a reformulation of guidelines for rural development
that includes self-management and new social actors (women), to influence and decide on the
production process in family units.
It requires facing the cultural mechanisms that exclude social actors. In this sense, the projects
seek to change gender relations by supporting and organizing the excluded. This perspective
is critical to the success of the proposed modernization of the countryside, since it stimulates
the productive potential of women, turning them into agents of rural development. Equity and
inclusion of the new actors reconciles economic interests and extends citizenship to all
segments, creating a new face for rural society, "it is better to tap the creative potential of the
work force which is being limited by the prevailing and subordinating morality (Suarez,
1995: 6).
The PDHC has supported and encouraged various productive activities, which have been
successful in some areas and have failed in others. Activities include the production of
chickens, goats, organic gardens, worm farms and logistics to agro-ecological fairs, etc..
Alongside production, the PDHC proposes gender, ethnic, and age-based transitions in all its
actions, the proposal is made with partnerships, in our case with the Eight of March Women's
Center (Centro da Mulher 8 de Maro) and the Cunha Feminist Collective (Cunh Coletivo
Feminista), these feminist organizations have acted since the 1990s for the defense of
women's rights and gender equity in Paraba.
In accordance with the 2005 and 2007 PDHC reports, the gender, generation, and
ethnic act, had the following objectives:
a) to give support to productive groups of women and youth;
b) to promote access to technical assistance amongst women, youth, and ethnic
communities;
c) to promote access to credit through PRONAF Woman and PRONAF Youth;
d) to combat violence towards women;
e) to promote the inclusion of women in social organization and in politics;
f) to promote the documentation of women;
g) to promote access to womens land ownership through joint titles to property.
The feminist NGOs began their activities in Cariri in 2003, initially in 12 settlements
located in six municipalities. Later, in 2007, they included more than 18 communities and
three settlements of family farms, totaling actions in fifteen cities. The purpose of the project
"Gender Cropping in the Semi-arid" was to make a diagnosis about the economic reality of
women in this region, and using this information to train technicians and social workers, and

perform direct actions with the women settlers themselves.

WOMEN IN THE CARIRI AGRARIAN SETTLEMENTS
The Cariri is situated in the semi-arid Brazilian Northeast. Known as the Polgono
das Secas do Nordeste(northeastern dry polygon), it is characterized by high temperatures,
low dew points, and scarce rain which is concentrated during the winter and very irregular.
Another defining characteristic is the scarcity of water resources, but the region has a
great capacity to store water in its many reservoirs, a fact that places it among the regions
with the highest rates of damming in the world.
The universe of this survey corresponds precisely to the West Cariri Paraiba area covering
seventeen municipalities. This is a micro geographical region divided by IBGE, which,
together with Eastern Cariri, Serid Paraiba, and East Serid, form the "Greater Borborema
Region.
Considering the areas in which the PDHC is focused, the research sampling was done
in the agro-villas of Tingui e Pores, and the settlements of Santa Catarina (320 families),
Novo Mundo (87 families), and Serrote Agudo (86 families).
Setting aside the peculiarities and historical aspects of the formation of settlements,
they have much in common, as described below.
The family is the basic unity of production, having subsistence agriculture as the main activity
for income, including the plantation of temporary crops, where corn and beans predominate,
and the raising of small animals, such as chicken, pigs, sheep, and especially goats. Income is
complemented by providing services, trabalho alugado (rented work) that characterizes the
varied activities of rural life. The great majority of the settlers are beneficiaries of Federal
Government programs such as Bolsa Famlia, Bolsa Escola, and/or retirement benefits,
which complement family incomes.
The handicraft work theme is also recurrent, as women along side of the housekeeping,
working the land, and taking care of the animals - in their spare time, make garments of
renaissance lace, which sporadically allows them to contribute to the family budget. Generally
speaking, the settlements have precarious infra-structures for basic health, education, and
transportation, and these places are devoid of treated tapped water and sewage systems. The
access roads to the settlements are unpaved and used on a daily basis by people, oxcarts, cars,
lots of motorbikes and some bicycles. By these dirt roads, students who attend school, transit

each day in order to continue their studies. The meaning of Poverty is no longer starvation
and thirst in the semiarid, but inaccessibility to goods and services.
The PDHC proposal of hiring feminist organizations in order to implement gender
mainstreaming promoted an interesting proximity between sustainable development or
economic solidarity and the feminist theme, however it also created impasses in regards to the
typical feminist intervention in families whose foundation pieces are traditional family
agriculture and sexual division of labor.
METHODOLOGY
The investigation began with the identification and cataloging of any available and relevant
secondary data for understanding the universe about to be studied; the project itself, and the
PDHC report on activities of the project, the histories of the women of the NGOs working in
the area, and data on the settlements and rural villages which make up the territory covered by
the projects of the PDHC.
We began the interview phase with NGO representatives that were participating in the PDHC,
with a view to include gender equity in the projects actions. It was not without some
reluctance that some project executors made themselves available providing information on
the evaluation of the results of their actions while others worked with us without any
hindrance. Interestingly, the difficulty was with the techniques that were already terminating
in the project. Almost all interviewees were generally unanimous in their assessments of
personal preparation, difficulties and obstacles, successes and achievements. In-depth
interviews were conducted with both the current executors, as well as those who started the
project in 2002.
The first exploratory trip to the field in May 2009, was to select the locations of study
considering distance, accessibility and project evaluation results, from interviews with NGO
representatives from the Women's 8th of March Reference Center (CRM8M) and Cunh
Feminist Collective.
The representative of the PDHC responsible for invitation and planning of feminist NGOs
action within the PDHC, at the time of the proposal drafting, was also interviewed. We
questioned the inclusion, form, and purpose of the NGOs entry into the project in
conformance with the script given in annex B.
The NGO partners were observed performing in the field, and we also interviewed a
representative of Vinculos. We identified projects developed by them and collected the

impressions of the population served by these projects through informal conversations and on
the spot observations. We were offered the chance to interview the coordinator of the PDHC
in the region, however, we dismissed the offer, since the collection phase of the field work
had already been closed, and we already had enough material on the official PDHC program.
We were more interested in knowing the impressions of the programs beneficiaries.
2.2.1. Areas Surveyed
The settlements selected for analysis were Serrote Agudo, where projects unfold with great
ease; Novo Mundo, which represented the most difficult area worked by the NGOs, and Santa
Catarina, the settlement of the region with the more consolidated infrastructure.
Subsequently, inserted in the collection of rural villages was Tingui which also benefited from
the projects of PDHC, and Pores, a fishing community on the edge of a dam of the same
name, which enjoyed no development projects.
It was established that Pores should function as the control group, i.e., that we compare the
perceptions and behaviors of women in this area with those of other localities where both the
PDHC project and NGOs had actuated. Thus, the only difference between one group and
another was exposure to the stimulus of the projects and actions, and research results with the
women of Pores served as a parameter in our analysis of all observations concerning the
effective impact of the projects and programs that promote citizenship, autonomy, equality,
and emancipation from the continued status of rural women.
We emphasize that the two groups (women of areas benefiting from the PDHC project and
not) were observed, and underwent the same interviews, and were present at all stages of
research.
2.2.2. Insertion and field visits
Between the months of June and December 2009 we made monthly trips to all localities for
collection of interviews. In August, the students stayed for a week in the settlements, where
they held a total of 70 interviews in five locations with "facilitators", who were leading the
women involved with the projects in the settlements, and beneficiaries.
In our relationship with the community we revealed from the beginning that we were there as
researchers, and presented ourselves to the formal leadership of each locality, informing them
of the purpose of our work. Besides the interviews, the research constituted informal

observation of the daily activities of the country community, and of its residents in the
assemblies and meetings, when practicing embroidery for the production of income, and in
other moments, we served only as observers. Thus, assuming the posture of the observer, we
were present in formal and informal moments, participating in the public sphere of life of the
beneficiaries.
The target audience was women participants of the various projects of the PDHC, including
those who attended and left the project halfway through, and (control groups). The NGOs list
of participants also identified the leaders, called "facilitators" in the settlements, which led us
to the women involved with the projects. To locate the beneficiaries, we also used the
snowball technique, in which each interviewee suggested the name of another participant.
In December 2009, a workshop was held with 12 women from the various areas surveyed, at
the SEBRAE headquarters of the city of Monteiro, chosen because it is in a central region and
with better infrastructure for such activity. The workshop aimed to: 1) to promote debate and
learn of women's impressions about the role of women in rural areas, domestic violence and
change in traditional roles in gender relations, 2) promote the exchange of views and
experiences between Cariri women.
The workshop consisted of three distinct moments, built on the objectives and topics of
discussion. At first there was the reception, followed by a focus group. In the second, was
offered a breakfast with space for spontaneous interaction among participants. The third was
comprised of the exhibition of videos, photos / pictures and news stories presenting various
situations on which the women were invited to say what they thought.
To arouse the interest of women and ensure the attendance of as many beneficiaries as
possible, women were personally invited, and offered transportation. Food and gifts were
distributed at the end of the event. The women of Serrote Agudo did not attend because they
had a marked activity on the same date, although our invitation was made well in advance,
while leaving room for date modification.
The meeting with the women of the settlements had two parts, the focus group and workshop.
The film Acorda Raimundo, acorda produced by the Brazilian Institute of Social and
Economic Analyses (IBASE) served as a motivator of debate and discussion of the feminist
movement. It demonstrates a reversal of traditional roles in society, in order to emphasize the
daily lives of millions of women living under the machismo and violence. Acorda Raimundo,
acorda encouraged a reflection on the construction of masculinity, gender roles and validation
of the human being. After the movie, there was a display of photographs of men performing
tasks identified as female tasks in order to start the workshop discussions.

2.3. The Focus Group

At the reception, the women received badges that identified them by name and location. They
were then randomized into two equal groups and separated into two rooms to facilitate the
recording of speeches during the focus groups, and assuring the opportunity to express
themselves well. Although separated, the two groups were subjected to the same questions,
and mediation strategy in which a researcher proposed a question based on predefined
guidelines and all responded in sequence.
The guiding questions of the focus groups were revealed from the beginning of the activity
and posted in a conspicuous place.
We chose to record and film the whole focus group lasting about 1 1/2 hours, for later
retrieval and analysis. Still, in each room were present, besides women and researchers,
mediators, other research members taking notes and recordings and observing the
development of the focus group.
Focus Group themes were:
How is the day-to-day life of women?
What kind of work do you do? and men?
How should we educate sons and daughters?
Is there a difference in how you educate, and how you were raised by your mothers? What is
the difference?
How was it in the past? Is it the same today?
And for young women today? Do you see any change in behavior? When did it change?
How are relations in the family?
What would you like to see changed?
What is good and what is bad about being a woman?
And for men?
Presentation and discussion
After the interval devoted to lunch, the women watched Acorda Raimundo, acorda. After the
movie, there was a display of photographs of men performing tasks identified as female. Both
the film and the photographs had the intention to stimulate and provoke debate about the role
of women, providing opportunity for the women to express themselves about these
hypothetical situations and, indirectly, about their reality. This strategy is based on the
principle that for people in general, it is easier to talk about other lives than to talk about

oneself, especially when it comes to matters of an intimate nature.

During the workshop, we presented the data from the Crimes against Women Monitoring in
Paraba between 2008 and 2009. This monitoring was conducted by the NGO CRM8M,
which provided the data to our team.
We continued the workshop by reading the latest news in local newspapers, the headlines are
highlighted:
Table 1: Newspaper discussed with women
Title

Date

of

publication

"TEEN

KILLS

FOR

NOT

RECEIVING PASSION IN RETURN"

23/09/200

JOURNAL

OF

PARAIBA

"YOUNG WOMAN KILLED FOR

18/08/200
9

JOURNAL

OF

PARAIBA

"FARMER KILLS WOMAN AND

COMMITS SUICIDE "

Official

REFUSING TO FLIRT WITH FARMER"

Vehicle/

06/08/200
9

JOURNAL

OF

PARAIBA

The film, the images, and the news, brought debate, comments, impressions, and feelings, and
also promoted reflections. There were personal histories counted of violence, fights, betrayals,
and

also

of

marital

relationships

based

on

respect

and

conflict

negotiation.

In our estimation the strategy was successful since women not only expressed their views;
they became emotionally involved with the cases, and revealed their own dilemmas.
At the end of the workshop, we held a sweepstake and delivered gifts, and some of the women
revealed

that

the

day

was

different

for

them,

it

was

fun

and

relaxing.

The material of the workshop was augmented with the notes of the observers-researchers, and
discussed throughout the team's research, the concepts and theories discussed in this work,
provided the basis for our analysis of women's perceptions of gender in Cariris.

THE FAMILY FARM AS THEIR WORKING SAVIOR

In the proposed land reform, family agriculture appears as a historical subject. The question is
when and how it was elected to be the agent of modernization in rural areas. For Abramovay
(1997), the family farm is "one in which the management, ownership and most of the work
comes from individuals who maintain links of blood or marriage" (Abramovay, 1997: 3).
The center of the debate today is for Brazilian society to begin seeing the settlements of
agrarian reform not as areas of conflict, but as places of food production, employment
generation and income. This is the great contemporary challenge. (Folha de S. Paulo, 22
August, 2009)
The government's understanding is that a country that wants to be productive, modern,
competitive in the twenty-first century, must have a more balanced and democratized agrarian
structure. But despite its importance, the Agricultural Reform Program distributes plots in
settlements poorly attended, with infrastructure unable to meet the basic needs of the
community, as evidenced by lack of roads, communication and access to goods and services.
Family agriculture has been characterized as a plurality that ensures social and economic
reproduction of the family unit, and whose stability arises from relationships among members.
Schneider pointed out that the plural "occurs not only in relation to the allocation of the
workforce, but also to matters of gender and family hierarchy" (Schneider, 2003: 101).
Stropasolas says that in family farming, "the whole organization of the work process is biased
against women. [...] a truly secular trait of family based forms of production throughout the
world "(Stropasolas, 2004: 254). According to Portella e Silva, in the rural family, women live
a situation of marked disadvantage, in a culture that divides roles, responsibilities and values
for females and males and is rigidly hierarchical. Collective planning does not exist in the
family; it is the head of the family that controls the work of women and children to define the
production. In this sense, the "family farm is structured in hierarchical relationships between
male and female, adults and youth, the father figure as the decision-maker, family farming is a
place of naturalized oppression experienced , intra-family (Portella e Silva, 2006:132).
In this model women are shut out of the public sphere, marked by isolation that arises from
the nature of their home confined activities. Hallmark of their condition is the absence of the
basic right to come and go, making the feminine movement a source of conflict. Despite
having safeguarded the rights of citizenship, women remain subordinate; they need
permission to leave the house. We can infer that the centrality of power in the father-figure,
and the conditions of isolation permeate the rural family in the country, creating situations

where the law, justice and rights have no place. The purpose of this research was to find the
conflict caused fissures and create new behaviors that might implode the restrictive and
oppressive authoritarian family.
FROM THE BACKYARD TO THE WORLD: THE ERRORS OF EMPOWERMENT
The combination of long hours spent in productive and reproductive activities by rural
women probably makes them the busiest people in the world (FAO 1993, p. 37).
In Paraba, the womens empowerment project in the rural settlements of Cariri was
developed together with the PDHC project for sustainable development and income
generation.
While power and income should be secured to ensure effective political autonomy for
women, the point of view of respondents interviewed in the settlements (Saw Agudo, New
World and Santa Catarina), is blurred regarding differences between the activities of the
PDHC, aimed at productive activities and the interventions of NGOs with a view to
promoting gender equity. They mention the participation in numerous meetings - both for
planning and monitoring of production, as well as the specific topics dealt with by NGOs
and do not perceive these as concrete and immediate means for returns to the families. It is as
if the process of training and women's empowerment was not noticed by women, or not part
of the gradual process of gaining autonomy, income generation and political mobilization. In
this sense, the question is to create local perceptions about empowerment with the broader
conceptions of the feminist movement and government projects.
The one who used to buy the food and clothes was me, but he paid the bills.
The one who used to take care of accounts was me, but he used to pay them. [] After
getting separated I was the one, who started working, getting paid and being aware of what
I needed or not (Flor de Cacto-33 years-old Santa Catarina Settlement Monteiro, PB).
This testimony summarizes the contradictions of gender relations in the families of the
studied settlements. Although some women were able to decide about how the family income
would be utilized, their husbands were the ones who owned the money.
In some cases, comparing the discourse and practice, we perceive the existence of
contradictions and gaps.
During the field work with women, their husbands remained in the space where the
interviews were conducted at all times, and very often they ended up answering the questions

or adding comments to the answers, sometimes even being requested to do so by the

interviewed herself, who easily felt constrained by the presence of someone else at the
moment of the interview.
Thus, although women are the focus of action, both in this research as in the projects
of PDHC, men saw themselves as "spokesmen" of the family and were often legitimated by
their wives, to speak for them. Importantly, many women gave their names to be registered in
the PDHC projects to favor their husbands, and had to make tough domestic negotiations in
order

to

attend

meetings.

These meetings to address technical issues, and dealing with issues of gender equity,
women describe as spaces of sociability, social mobilization and exchange of experiences.
Although no one has a concrete view about the political benefit they might gain through
access to information on rights, citizenship and development, they see "meetings" as unique
time

within

the

PDHC.

Before we began with the PDHC project, with these things, we were very quiet, and
could not talk; I was ashamed when people arrived. [...] After that we started well, to meet
with them, we learned to talk more, you know, it was very good having more income. (Flower
of the Caatinga, Serrote Agudo)
Particularly in the case of the meetings promoted by the feminist NGOs, the women
were able to articulate their voice and be heard. At the same time, they were able to have
access to information concerning their rights as citizens, in particular the Maria da Penha
Law (Federal law put in place with the intent of reducing domestic violence). The access to
information about the legal implications for aggressors in case of violence towards women
had a direct impact in the settlements, and revealed a decrease in cases of aggression after the
informative workshops.
However, many women were prohibited to participate in these meetings by their
husbands, who only opened space for their wives to participate when they perceived the
activity as a possibility of some sort of financial benefit, such as the agro-ecological fairs and
exchange trips. In any case, these women are inscribed by the conditions of overwork, with
tasks and duties that involve production and reproduction of life. Family agriculture is
structured according to the family labor, collective and voluntary, obtained from extraeconomic ties, affective-based, according to which the perception of exploitation does not
exist. Purportedly, everyone participates with their work for the betterment of all, but this
logic represents more disadvantages for women.

What happens is that without this implicit arrangement, family agriculture does not
survive. Still, what guarantees the continuation and regeneration of inequality is this same,
invisible and demeaned womans labor.
As Portella pointed out (2006), the burden has serious consequences, as they
accumulate multiple tasks since childhood, the labor of girls appears as the only way to free
the mothers of housework to participate in community activities or trade union.
We would frame the idea that the model of family farming only survives thanks to
"overwork" of women and the concentration of power in the figure of one man. Might not we
consider reformatting the family, as in the studies of Lewis (2009), and Knijn Komtar (2004),
among other authors concerned with democratization, the equitable distribution of power and
solidarity between the sexes and generations? Would it really be a mortal blow to the family
farm structure if the production arrangements and the tasks were distributed equally, without
prejudice

or

discrimination

based

on

sex?

This superfluous work in Cariri is founded in a conception of labor, which differs from
the urban concept "employment", and extends into leisure time. Indeed, work and free time
are deeply interwoven in the settlements. Basically, the work done by women is found in the
home, in family food preparation and in raising children, working outside the plantation,
animal care, brush clearing with her husband, or fishing. The free time, according to the
generational profiles is divided between rest, visiting relatives and neighbors, dancing parties,
church, soccer games on the farm or nearby farms, spelling classes for the young and adults,
television and crochet and embroidery. Among other activities, free time is used to increase
the family income with the sale of cosmetics, clothing and other products in the feminine
universe.
FAMILY

AS

TRAP

Debert sees the re-privatization policy issues as renewing the role of the family. The
family is not understood as the traditional patriarchal family in which there reigns the law or
the power of institutions, but reappears in the context of public policies that favor the family
as the "kingdom of protection and affection", aiming through this discourse to resolve social
crises. Also Saffiotti (1994), argued that the family for women, can be a dangerous group.
Family relationships define hierarchy, no one is equal to another, it is an institution riddled
with conflicts of gender and generation and distribution of limited resources ... Feminism has
been very critical of it all, the vision of the family as an institution capable of creating social

harmony is completely anti-feminist, a de-politicization ... a struggle that seeks to transform

women into the subjects of law. It is a quasi-religious, weakening ideology, which joins up to
human

rights.

It

is

regrettable

setback

"(Debert,

2006:116).

Gender sensitive policies are based on the recognition that men and women participate
unequally in the process of development. They have differing and sometimes conflicting
needs, interests and priorities. Irene Guijt and Meera Shah discussed in The Myth of
Community (1998), the pitfalls that development projects come up against when working
with the concept of community, imputing to it organic and monolithic characteristics of a
whole,.

The authors suggest that since the 1970s, a theoretical ideal of local cultural

and politically homogeneous participation has developed as counterpoint to deteriorating

impersonal institutions. Here, the real needs of people are what prevail, grassroots
participation, with perceptions represented in decision-making in forums. The idea of
community suggests that any plan of action meets the needs of the entire community.
Inequities, social hierarchies, and oppressive discrimination are omitted, since the emphasis is
given to cooperation and harmony of the imagined community (Guijit and Shah, 1998).
In this sense, communities and families cannot be thought of as homogeneously
composed groups nor as harmonious. For the authors, the gender studies fell into this trap of
the balanced community that obscures gender differences. Ideas such as homogeneity or
harmony must be replaced with a more complex view that recognizes the multiple conflicts of
interest that permeate and cut through families and communities. Otherwise, projects are
likely to legitimize existing processes and relationships that perpetuate social inequity.
ABOUT EMPOWERMENT: NGOS AND THEIR COOPERATION IN DEVELOPMENT
PROJECTS
In the context of international cooperation and since both the seminal work of Boserup
(1970) highlighting the fact that half the population was excluded from development projects,
and the International Women's Year (1975) giving visibility to the exclusion of women in
development projects, international agencies have developed the policy, Women in
Development (WID), in order to include women in socioeconomic development projects.
The WID was based on the idea that it was necessary to integrate women in
development and that the access door would be projects aimed at employment and income for
women. The insertion took the style of Just Add Women and Stir (Harding, 1995).
In the 80s, the concept of gender entered the agencies, altering the structure of development

projects for women. Considering gender reveals the fragility of a purely market based
approach to overcome inequality and inequity between the sexes. It is evident that the origin
of inequality between the sexes is far beyond the economic scope, it is part of the culture and
social

imagery

and

permeates

every

dimension

of

life.

New development projects are formatted to address gender, Gender and Development
(GAD), being the priority the position of women in society with the redistribution of power
between the sexes. GAD rescues the notions of empowerment and democratization in gender
relations

originating

in

the

feminist

agenda.

The spectrum of agencies aimed at promoting gender equity expands and diversifies, includes
partners with distinct expertise to promote a horizontal/transversal approach to democratize
the relations between the sexes. However, these interdisciplinary unions are not always
peaceful

and

fruitful.

For GAD this means revealing the structures and processes that place women at a
disadvantage, and then dismantling them to achieve the empowerment of women. If during
the WID, the focus was to implement and to develop policies that meet immediate needs,
because it is less problematic than changing the lives of women by empowering them, in the
view of GAD, the focus shifts and turns to the subordination of women and gender relations.
In the late '80s, Gita Sen and Caren Grown introduce the notion of empowerment, which
implies collective action related to empowering women in order to solve problems in local
contexts and elaborate new strategies and methods of political mobilization, thus changing
society (Sen and Grown, 1988).
What we perceive, when analyzing the development projects of the PDHC, is neglect
towards this perspective, focusing on actions that alleviate poverty, such as entrepreneurship
and self-sustainability, yet serving only to extend the already insufficient state action. As
observed in the PDHC partnership-entities, there is an aggregation process without
transformation, the social structures remains untouched.
In Rowlands (1997), empowerment is more than participation in decision making; it
also includes the process of getting people to perceive themselves as capable and then decide
the awareness of decision-making capacity. To Moser (1993), women have difficulty in
playing and balancing activities for income generation and domestic sexual roles, because
women's time is limited, there is an elastic feature.
The scenario revealed in the workshop and focus group with women of PDHC Cariris
involved in the project was a condition of over-exploitation. Not unnoticed, they still fail to
identify the gender division of labor as the source of oppression and inequality. They

naturalize the condition as the "normal" way of things.

Parpart (2002) sees empowerment as challenging and subversive to power relations
within the institutions and in material and discursive contexts. Individual empowerment
through the acquisition of skills, awareness and decision-making occurs within the same
structures institutions and discursive practices that constrain. Empowerment has two faces; it
is a process and at the same time a result. The process is fluid and unpredictable, but the result
can be measured from the accomplishments achieved.
The gender equity starts to hit when they start to believe in their own abilities to
perform an effective role in the change process. Empowerment is the creation of a sense of
effective agency. To achieve women's empowerment requires the deconstruction of cultural
values that imply the self-perception of being unable to act or decide, this can be a very
important role for external agents such as women's NGOs in communities. The coach acting
as a facilitator cannot lose sight that it is women who must be free to act from their own
analysis and priorities, without being manipulated by outside agents.
IMPACTS, EFFICIENCY, AND EFFICACY OF THE PDHC PROJECT IN THE CARIRI
For the rural women, the projects promoted neither gender equity, nor the construction
of alternative relations between the sexes, but, on the contrary, the traditional standard of
sexual division of labor is maintained with the support of these very women. They
acknowledge that for the work performed at home the help from men is welcomed; they,
however, conceive this kind of task as womens work.
A woman cannot yell at a man. She must stay home taking care of the
children, waiting for her husband. (Purple Flower, Santa Catarina).
Where are the women if not at their homes?! They should be there on
their mens side. A womans duty is to be at home, taking care of the
kitchen, of the chicken, of the yard (Algaroba Flower, Santa Catarina).

For the female family agriculturist, life and work coexist in the same space in which
the housekeeping is performed together with farming and animal raising. In addition to this
fact, they often participate in the productive activity outside the home, either in the plantations
with their husbands, or in the fairs, and fishing activities. This implies a triple work shift that
starts before sunrise and ends up in front of the TV, (working with the lace). However, these

activities are considered as merely contributions to the true worker, obligations, not worthy
wages.
[] we have neither day off, nor holiday, it is endless as a crickets song
(Cashew Flower, Novo Mundo).
Haug (1992) rejects the idea that women are pure victims. If so, the woman would not
be a subject of action, someone capable of taking matters into their own hands. Are women
complicit in their own oppression? Self-development and empowerment has a price. It carries
the risk of questioning traditional values and seeking alternative roles. It is a process that
requires social and emotional support. People make their own history from pre-existing
repressive structures, which expect subservience. Structures survive only to the extent that
they are continually reproduced. Those who have the power to reproduce them are the same
ones that can transform them. For Haug, to be victim is an action, not a passive act.
Paulilo (1987) notes that work considered light farm work and appropriate for women,
is anything but light. Here light means socially devalued and without the prestige that
surrounds male labor, in general the provider of income. The woman in gardening, weeding,
planting or harvesting, regardless of the heaviness or lightness of the task, even when
performed together with men, is seen as mere "help" because she plays a role not of their own
sex. The reverse is true, the man in the house willing to wash a dish, is honorably helping,
whereas this is not his duty, but an act of volition. The woman who refuses to "help" her
husband in the fields, not perceived as a favor, cannot refuse without causing conflicts.
"Light" work and the duty of helping on a daily basis demarcate the territory of compulsory
female

labor.
At home the girl does not work, she owns the house, the boy works, but also helps the
home ..."( Canela de ema, Pores, PB).
Our study confirms the Portella findings because we found state actions weak and

unable to extend full citizenship to residents of the countryside, which is an example of "pure
and simple lack of democracy" (Portella, 2006). The reality of rural communities in the
Northeast is lack, not just food and water, but of democracy, justice and social equality. The
absence of horizontal relationships and fair division of labor, power and decision-making
capacity is a characteristic element of family farming that government programs have elected
as the field model of civilization and they intend to support family farming and through
projects like the PDHC.

In our research, whether women entered into successful projects or not, they receive
different directions at once from the different partnerships. There are partners that practice
something close to the WID approach, whose emphasis is the high productivity. Some
partners believe that gender is a social issue related to not having anything to do with the
technical part, so it must be dealt with across the board in activities with the settlers. Others
choose to organize specific groups of women and conduct trials, as in the case of Mandala and
agro-ecological projects, it was sewing and embroidery. There are even partners (usually
linked to churches) who refuse to address the issue of gender because this creates conflict and
undermines the structures within families. Finally, we found partners who represent
organizations and social movements that claim that the inclusion of gender on the agenda
creates

divisiveness

and

weakens

the

fight.

The feminist NGOs attempt to practice the GAD, but try alone, against the obstacles.
Female beneficiaries of projects remain between discourses, sometimes schizophrenically
disconnected. Actions that should be combined emerge as antipodes which ultimately
undermine

the

effectiveness

of

both.

With respect to gender relations, the PDHC drafted a weak proposal, aiming to reduce
differences, which means, in other words, the differences would remain, although reduced.
Eliminating differences in access to goods and resources (including law), and giving women
the status of full citizenship, would eliminate all forms of discrimination arising out of sexual
difference. Such a goal seems out of the directive of the PDHC, in fact the inclusion of gender
was the requirement of IFAD, and as such much more than a just a commitment or policy
devised to reshape gender relations in the field with the aim of eliminating gender inequality.
Coming from an external demand, from (top to bottom), the project in its design,
grafted the gender issue to productive actions causing an imbalance between PDHC managers
and NGO partnerships. These in the area surveyed, revealed the difficulties of the dialogue
with PDHC managers and also difficulties in approaching the rural universe, full of nuances,
wrapped in symbols and signs, very different from the city being much more familiar with
the actions of local feminist organizations. In this sense, there couldnt arise a project taking
gender and empowerment beyond embroidery, crocheting, raising chickens and goats. It
seems that the feminist NGOs oscillated between the demand for productive projects and the
feminist agenda, running along the same old lines of workshops for urban women exclusively
aimed

at

women.

The perspective of GAD is quite clear in its criticism of this stance, it is not to
organize the men, but to engage them in the debate about genre, reviewing attitudes and

behavior vis--vis the other genera(s). This of course does not preclude or invalidate the
existence of specific spaces for women to discuss issues such as those proposed by the NGO
workshops.
The work that women's NGOs have developed over these years was very well rated by
women who say they approve of and have adopted new positions from the information
obtained in the workshops, overcoming abuse and violence, learning to position themselves
and speak. However, with respect to changes in gender relations and empowerment in the
classic sense, the horizon appears far from being reached. Acquiring self worth in a culture
that considers women as second-class people, especially when poor, rural, black or mixed
race, and increase self-esteem is a significant task in women's lives. However, it is not and
does not replace the idea of empowerment and that, ultimately, we did not find Cariris.
In the control group which did not participate in any project, either productive or on
the agendas of feminism, no significant discrepancy was found in the treatment of gender
issues, nor of their daughters, i.e. there was not found an "evolution" toward empowerment in
the discourse of women who participated in the projects differentiate them from the
pescadoras

de

Pores,

fisherwomen.

The barometers of traditional gender relation permanence and reproduction were the
workshops and focus groups, the ever-present indignation at role reversal showed that
empowerment is still a dream, and serves as an indicator that it would take time to occur. The
women in fact reproduce gender roles, passing them on to their daughters. Alternative
behavior and/or sexual orientation did not appear; they are veiled, or denied, even by those
who were more "empowered" with regard to organization and political participation, yet
without

gender

bias.

Although they are starting the process of acquiring citizenship, the women of the
Cariris, once informed of the laws that protect their rights, lack the necessary equipment to
carry this newly acquired citizenship. There are no Womens Protection Police Services or
medical services for sexual assault cases, and there are no institutions able to adduce the
emerging demands of these women. This serves as a cause of extreme frustration for NGOs,
"we have nowhere refer the victim." It lies beyond the powers of the project, as noted, not
linked to the actions of state government. The project developer has admitted that the
allocation of responsibilities among different levels of power is still contentious.
Among the partnerships, the conflict is not only disinterest or lack of seeing the
importance of the tasks facing gender relation transformation, but also conflict of interest with
regard to resource allocation. NGOs complain that feminists have been delegitimized by

partner groups. Information passed to the recipients was then disqualified by the technicians
of the partner entities. Such conduct on the part of some partners has negative effects
especially on the population served by the PDHC, which is obviously in the firing zone,
getting conflicting directives without understanding the exact position of the partnership
project.
Another observed bias is authoritarianism in the discourse of technical knowledge. In
fact, different areas are contaminated reproducing patterns of authoritarian behavior. In
INCRA, authoritarianism shows by requiring that the production be made in lots or
installments, despite the insistence of the residents in maintaining their customary format of
daily production. This authoritarianism was reproduced in the attitude of the coach or
extension worker when involving the handling of the meetings with residents to appoint the
board positions, affecting its composition, and the actions of the association's president.
Production in lots excludes women who live in the agricultural community from the
productive activities of land clearing, and the raising of herds because they end up being
confined to the backyard raising small animals and gardening for their own consumption and
sale on a small scale instead of being involved in the production of lots of cotton for example.
INCRA is reinforcing the traditional roles and sexual division of labor in practice, while also
pretending to support projects that empower women and seek to reduce gender inequalities.
But what kind of empowerment leaves intact the constitutive structures of oppression,
whether

in

the

employment

relationship

or

the

family?

The belief that work interferes with social relationships suggests that the privileged
agent would be the community, thus another contradiction, since the whole focus is on family,
not

the

community

nor

other

possible

forms.

The law preserves the autonomy of the settlers in making decisions about the
settlement, but doesnt consider gender bias in the distribution of decision-making at meetings
of the association. Here the women are silent or in the kitchen preparing meals. Also lack of
information about the legislation, lack of experience in conference organizing,
unpreparedness or local "bureaucracy" of the settlers, open the process to the "mediators" social movements, trade unions, church sectors, non- governmental organizations,
government

agencies,

etc..

to

influence

the

decisions

of

the

settlement.

According to Edina Shimanski Cimone and Souza (2007), the imposition to the
settlers is not found in the exclusive prerogative of the INCRA technicians, but is also in the
social movements, such as the Landless Workers Movement / MST. According to the authors,
the MST theoretical basis results from a three part combination of influences: the Catholic

Church gives the movement concepts such as community and recovery of peasant labor, the
Marxist reading held by the leaders extracts the idea of cooperation as a vehicle for social
transformation and poses the potential for rural workers to turn into revolutionaries (Incao and
Roy, 1995 Apud Shimanski and Souza, 2007). And the third influence comes from the state
counselor/technician, for whom the cooperative aims toward integrating the settlement with
the market, thus generating efficiency in production according to market rules.
For the MST, as well as the technicians of INCRA, the ideal is a settlement in which
all members reside in a shared space as an agricultural community having social interaction,
and meetings to facilitate the installation of a basic settlement infrastructure. As shown by
Caniello and Duke (2006), this is a fallacious argument that hides the real motive, that of
breaking the perceived peasant isolationism caused by the customary ways of working.
In defense of the agricultural community, it can be argued beyond operational
infrastructure that it ensures a flow of information and experiences between the residents, it
breaks isolation, and provides protection against domestic violence.
All the settlements have internal conflicts that jeopardize the organizational work group. Most
commonly is it seen that personal relations, rather than professional relations not yet
established are their source. The partner and colleague need to be inserted in a universe where
only the neighbor and family exist.
Duke, Sidersky and Oliveira (2004), fear that hierarchical relationships of the past
could weaken the organization. However, hierarchical relationships come not only from the
outside (authorities and/or large property owners). Hierarchy and authoritarian relations are
present within the family farm.
Finally, empowering women involves breaking down the structure on which the
family farm sits, and reconstructing these relations on other bases. It involves forming a
whole from which partnership, equity, and democracy, without respect to position or class,
race, sex, sexual orientation, age, ethnicity, religion or other social stigmas, can act so that
people are valued as individuals exempt from the hierarchical disadvantage. It involves
forming a new moral order for the family and partnerships, without reference to male or
female, but only to the citizen person who lives not only in town or the city, but also lives in
the fields or the forest, the beach, or the mountain or in the bush lands.

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