At a time when villages are less and less populated, and in search of better living conditions, villagers move to urban areas, stories about love for the countryside and life in the countryside are becoming rare. However, there are also those who do not want to leave the place where they grew up and where their ancestors lived, and everyday life is a struggle for survival. For that, they need the support of the whole society
The fifteenth of October is known throughout the world as the International Day of Rural Women. At a time when villages are less and less populated, and in search of better living conditions, villagers move to urban areas, stories about love for the countryside and life in the countryside are becoming rare. However, there are also those who do not want to leave the place where they grew up and where their ancestors lived, and everyday life is a struggle for survival. Among them are certainly women who are often the head of the family. Husbands spend their days mostly at work, while women are the ones who have to carry a greater burden, taking care of children, home, livestock, working in the fields and in the garden. Then women are the pillars of the house. They are the ones who get up at five o’clock in the morning to first feed the cattle, turn to their obligations to the household, and then move on to work in the fields and orchards. In the villages, the working day starts early and ends late, and it’s always an hour or so before all scheduled duties can be completed.
Through various programs and donor support, the Foundation for Local Democracy actively works on the socio-economic and psychological empowerment of women who live and work in the villages of BiH, and they are often provided with free legal support in the fight for their rights. With the aim of economic empowerment, women were provided with greenhouses, cattle, tillers, fruit and vegetable seedlings, irrigation systems, milk processing devices, and in the village of Here (Prozor-Rama municipality) a Safe Corner was built as a place of gathering and support. and empowerment of women. In addition, with the support of the Local Democracy Foundation, women from this and the surrounding villages of Šćipe and Kuta founded and registered their own Association “Mali ženski kutak”. They presented themselves in front of this Association at the recent “Herzegovinian Fruits of the Mediterranean” fair, held on October 11 and 12 in Stolac.
Women from the villages of Hera, Šćipe and Kuta at the food fair in Stolac
– We are happy that we once again have the opportunity to participate in this fair and present our domestic products to visitors. There are only two of us at the fair, but women from all three villages participate with their homemade products. Some prepared jams, some dairy products, some knitted papas, and some opted for juices and jams. We have enriched our offer with organically grown fruits and vegetables – Enisa M. told us, adding that they have made numerous contacts, as well as decent earnings that will contribute to their economic profit.
Examples of positive practice are certainly the women from the villages around Sarajevo, who started small businesses such as sheep and dairy farming, growing and selling strawberries, and sewing and tailoring. Among them is Fatima K. from Dejčić, to whom the Foundation donated a motor tiller for growing agricultural crops. Fatima cultivated more than a dulum and a half of agricultural land by hand, and the sale of potatoes and other agricultural crops was her only means of financial gain.
– Doing agriculture is extremely difficult, but if it is your only source of income, then you have to fight and find strength. I am happy that now, thanks to your donation, I will be able to cultivate another area and plant even more vegetables – she said.
Analysis of the position of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. showed the villages that women are a vital factor, and that the revival of villages and rural development as a whole depends on them. Despite this, they are still in a disadvantageous position and face numerous problems. The local democracy foundation will continue to develop programs in the future that will contribute to the better position of women in the countryside, and provide them with free socio-economic, psychological and legal support.
Source: fld.ba
