More than 3,300 women are members of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) in Las Tunas, which is in tune with the gender strategy implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in the country and accounts for the recognition of the work of peasant women.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Mabisleydis González Silva, an ideological official of the ANAP Provincial Bureau, declared that women represent about 18 percent of the membership, among the more than 18 thousand associated with the organization.
Of that figure, she specified, 912 women are beneficial owners; 456, landowners; three develop beekeeping; and the rest support the work of their relatives intending to extract the maximum possible profit from the land.
She added that women also have active participation in leadership positions in grassroots structures, in which they serve as organizers, community social workers, and other positions; while in the territories of Majibacoa, the provincial capital, and Jobabo, the municipal bureaus are presided over by women.
"In all the organizations, the work of women is seen but in the ANAP it is appreciated in a very particular way. They are in the field, on the boards of directors, the presidency of grassroots organizations ...; always taking the step forward, in every activity that the organization develops is the hand of women, and I believe that one of the priority actions in the province today is the empowerment of women in agriculture."
González Silva, with more than a decade of work in the organization and descendant of a peasant family, is witness to the push of women and their growing leadership in areas traditionally associated with men. In this regard, she says: "There are women in the entire agricultural branch: cattle ranchers, tobacco and flower growers…; I have seen them milking, driving tractors, in the meadows, sowing alongside men. Agricultural work is strong but women are there, and we must make their effort visible.”
To clear the path of androcentric gazes, and direct the route of women in pursuit of sovereignty and food security, 161 joint brigades with the Federation of Cuban Women operate in Las Tunas, which also. Their members carry out hard work in all matters related to the organization of activities, the coordination with the homes for children without family protection, the nursery and grandparents' houses, among other social actors.
Against the grain of COVID-19, and in the context of the organization's 60th anniversary, the official notes, they held the workshops of that alliance, which were meetings to make visible the work of women in agriculture and in the ANAP; as well as reflect on inequality in rural areas.
