Two empowered women who are making names in their respective fields were the featured speakers in Aggie Ps Talk Season 6 Episode 4:  Viewpoints of the Forerunners: Future of Agriculture and Food Systems last August 19. They were Senator Pia Cayetano, a long-time advocate of women’s rights and Chairperson Sandra Montano, a staunch advocate of gender equality, women empowerment, and of risk reduction and management.

A woman’s future in agriculture 

In a pre-recorded video message, Sen. Pilar Juliana “Pia” S. Cayetano talked about the future of women in agriculture. She articulated that women’s participation is extremely important because it has been shown that in all sectors, when women are empowered or when given the opportunities to participate, to govern, and to be a leader, women function well and the outcome is better for everyone. Moreover, she said that when women are given access to the actual production of food and technology, they can become inventors of these future technologies that will improve the way we do agriculture.

She also shared some of her initiatives or laws to empower women. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension included provisions to support women and support services to be extended equally to both men and women and the establishment of women’s desk to reach out to women. In RA 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women, Sen. Cayetano provided specific provisions that empower women in agriculture and recognize their contribution to food production.

Sen. Cayetano chairs the Committee on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Innovation, and Futures Thinking, which keeps track of the activities towards the attainment of the SDGs. She detailed that the topic on women empowerment and the role of women in agriculture is very much aligned with SDG2: Zero hunger; SDG3: Health and well-being; SDG5: Gender equality; SDG11: Sustainable cities and communities; SDG12: Responsible consumption and production; SDG13: Climate action; and SDG10: Reducing inequality.

Sen. Cayetano emphasized that we already have the laws that recognize the vital role of women in agriculture. “It is not enough that they are amazing home makers. Let us empower them to be equal partners in the food production system and in agriculture,” she concluded.

PCW forwarding gender equality

Chairperson Sandra S. Montano is currently at the helm of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW). Prior to this, she served as the Commissioner for PCW’s science and health sector.

Chairperson Montano started her discussion with a brief introduction on the mandate, mission, vision, and commitments of the role of PCW as the policy-making and coordinating body of the government advocating equality, women’s empowerment and the fulfilment of women’s rights. She also shared that PCW acts as a catalyst for gender mainstreaming and lead advocate for women’s empowerment and gender equity and equality in the country. 

Chairperson Montano moved on to discuss the current situation of the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sector amidst the pandemic. She also provided the following priority and emerging gender issues:

1. High poverty incidence among rural women due to low access to economic resources
2. Limited access to digital transformation tools, production and value-adding technologies and information
3. Limited involvement of women in leadership organization and decision-making
4. Need to assess the gender-responsiveness of laws, policies and programs; and
5. Double work burden, higher proportion of unpaid care and domestic work to women

She then shared that efforts are outlined and performed to address these gender issues. Aside from the Magna Carta of Women, she added that the law identifies the gender and development (GAD) mandate of different key implementing agencies to achieve women economic empowerment. 

In carrying out PCW’s mandate, they promote the inclusion of gender perspective in the design and implementation of plans and programs of all agencies and LGUs; allocating adequate logistics for the control of gender-responsive activities in the regular programs of the organization; and the formulation of the GAD plan and budget as the tool to ensure that they are carried out by agencies and LGUs.

Chairperson Montano emphasized that PCW  does not only advocate women empowerment but gender equality as well, which requires inclusive participation. After all, she believes that beside a confident man is an empowered woman (IMGesmundo).

Watch the episode through CAFS YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmteAj84WWQ&t=1871s