In rural areas, Women are struggling between discrimination, stereotypes and social pressures. They are pushed out of the public sphere into the private sphere to look after the home and are therefore excluded from owning land and livestock, cannot participate in decision-making bodies and have difficulties accessing a status and therefore a salary. The mental burden is even heavier because they have to deal with home and farm, without any recognition in both work.

Rural cultural tourism appears then to be a solid response. Indeed, it is a new, free and constantly expanding path for them in which they have a central place. With the gendered distribution of roles, women dominate the tertiary sector, particularly tourism. Plus, this new kind of tourism, highlights the rural patrimony, which is a field in which they are the major actors and guardians (their central role in the household places them as the primary transmitters of traditional and cultural knowledge) By creating their own structures to sell their products, show their farms, demonstrate their traditional know-how, or creating cooperatives, they become key strategic players in meeting the challenges of the Mediterranean basin.

Nowadays, the Mediterranean basin is a mirror of our global problems, with pollution, migration issues, rural poverty and lack of food security. It’s also a strong identity, a culture and a shared history that connects us, from thousand-year-old olive trees to azulejos and a rich gastronomy. The idea of honoring this heritage while encouraging economic, social and environmental development seems to be the ideal solution. Progress today requires this kind of sustainable and committed innovation. If women had the same resources and opportunities as men, they could increase production by 30%, thereby reducing the number of people suffering from hunger by over 150 million.[1]

For those ones to be efficient, political institutions need to get involved. Without recognition and investments, the formidable work and commitment of this women would remain a medium-term solution. Indeed, women are taking action to deal with the consequences of these inequalities, but it is more necessary than ever for policies to commit themselves to tackling the causes. To present these innovation as the only means of action without any support would demonstrate that they do not have the right to exist on an equal footing in the traditional space and worsen the mental burden weighing on their shoulders. We must support and recognize better these women and their communities, not only as a way of overcoming stereotypes and gender roles but also as a way of sustainably developing our societies.

This is exactly where Héméra Initiatives play its role : by promoting, encouraging, financing the innovations of this farmers and by alerting and calling for action political institutions.

[1]Statistics coming from the French report : (Les inégalités femmes-hommes dans le monde : chiffres clés, 2021)