Gender empowerment: creating an economy for all
Helping women grow, sell and find inclusive markets for their products, from Christian Aid Brazil
Despite its rising profile on the world stage, Brazil remains one of the most unequal societies on earth.
Just 1% of the population holds 13% of the country’s total income.
Women in rural communities are particularly vulnerable. Many depend on their husbands for money, and their role is isolated to the home.
Sempreviva Organizção Feminista
Our partner Sempreviva Organizção Feminista (SOF) is helping to overcome this by empowering rural women to grow, sell and find inclusive markets for their products.
SOF provides training on sustainable farming practice to help women grow for their family and the market.
Most importantly, they bring consumers closer to the lived realities of rural communities as part of their work to create an inclusive economy.
Women work closely with consumer groups from São Paulo who regularly buy their produce and provide advice on where and how to sell their goods.
They listen to the women’s challenges and find solutions to help improve product quality and expand their market reach.
By helping women to earn their own income, and develop their own businesses, SOF are helping to challenge the status quo in rural areas and build an economy for all.
The producer
Maria de Lourdes Feltz Bonaldi
Maria is a driving force for change in her community.
Even prior to SOF’s involvement, she was already looking for ways to rally her neighbours together and get women out of the home.
Working with SOF from the beginning, Maria encouraged women to participate in the project and offered parts of her land as places to farm.
For Maria, the results have been transformative.
‘I want all women to sell what they are producing and to learn what I know,’ she said.
Thanks to SOF’s training, Maria’s cooperative has enough crops to sell and to feed their families.
They have build a strong relationship with their consumer group; whom Maria sees as part of her extended family.
For Maria, SOF’s work represents a ‘trust revolution’ and a chance to be part of a wider, alternative economic movement.
The consumer
Andréa de Barros Barreto
Andréa is engaged in ComerAtivaMente, a consumer group committed to promoting healthy eating and agrarian reform.
Through her work, Andréa became involved in SOF’s project and has offered technical advice on product quality to the female cooperative she works with.
She has helped the cooperative overcome many challenges including the transport of their product to São Paulo.
For Andréa, the project represents an opportunity to get closer to the lived realities and challenges faced by rural women, and work together towards a more human market which unites consumers and producers.
‘We wanted to build a practical action with communities and strengthen women in the countryside, who are an example of strength to us.’
This project was supported by the Newton Fund and reached 220 women in the Ribeira Valley.
Women who have participated in the project are earning their own income and have grown in personal confidence.
Many of the women speak of improved relations between their husbands and families too. This growth in female economic autonomy has helped to shift power relations in the community.
In the rise of political and religious conservatism, SOF’s work shows that feminist economic models can offer viable alternatives to the existing Brazilian and global status quo.
