by Vina Medenilla, Manila Bulletin
Women’s roles in Philippine agriculture have always been vital to the sector’s development. Despite their contributions, women continue to suffer from inequities and are still underrepresented in several branches of this male-dominated field.
An article published in Food and Fertilizer Technology Center for the Asian and Pacific Region’s website wrote that even though laws and private and public initiatives are put in place to fight gender imbalance, some female farmers and fisher folk in the Philippines remain marginalized in comparison to their male counterparts.
While the word “farming” still conjures up images of men working in a sunny field, there are empowered women who are going beyond such stereotypes and carving their own path in agriculture. Here are four of them, whose inspiring stories have previously appeared on Agriculture Online.
Morris, Ka Gigi to the local community, shared that she felt an implicit bias or stereotype when she first entered the agribusiness.
In her own words, she says, “I think many in the government service back then thought that farming is not a career for someone who [isn’t] ‘economically challenged.’ Navigating for help and assistance in government programs back then was not easy for new farmers.”
This did not hold her back and instead served as a motivation for her to arrange events for small farmers.
Through MOCA Family Farm RLearning Center, a private extension service provider for Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) Calabarzon, she joined forces with the Department of Agriculture (DA) in working with new and existing farmers in the delivery of agricultural extension programs and in implementing capacity-building activities for women-led family farms.
“Organizing farm events and agri-conferences created an opportunity for me and other women-led family farms. It was an opportunity to remove the implicit bias or implicit stereotype I faced when I started. It was a chance to get the conversation started,” she said.
