Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-07-03-Speech-4-135"
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"en.20030703.7.4-135"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I think that it is an excellent political conjuncture to be debating women in rural areas just when the reform of the common agricultural policy is being finalised, the reform of the common fisheries policy is continuing and nothing in the planned reforms has been decided for women. I thank the Conference of Presidents for approving the initiative of the Committee on Women's Rights to draft this report and all the political groups which, with their participation and amendments, have enriched the initial draft of my report. I also warmly thank the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development for supporting this report and cooperating with us by drafting an opinion, the most important points of which are included in the proposed resolution.
Today, in the European Union, we are looking for efficient strategies to develop rural areas on the basis of the new European standard and, at the same time, to combat local and regional inequalities. Within the framework of this policy, we all recognise that human resources are a development factor of prime importance. Our policies must therefore be based on the principle of equality between men and women if we really want to give development opportunities to all rural citizens, men and women alike.
The policies of the European Union to strengthen the role of women in rural areas have not had the anticipated results. Today, in the European Union, the proportion of women working in agriculture is 37%. This percentage varies from one country to another, but the situation on farm holdings and in social life in rural areas has more or less the same characteristics. Only one in five farms are managed by women and the majority of these are small farms. Over the last decade there has only been an increase in this proportion of 1%. Approximately one in two women involved in agricultural production and life have the status of farmer's wife or partner, a status of invisible, unrecognised work which is not in keeping with the quality of work objectives of the European citizen and which does not provide any preconditions for personal development and the growth of local society.
The level of education of women is very low, both as regards basic education and as regards the level of full or partial agricultural education. Social security differs from country to country. In some places women farmers have derived [rights], in some places the same rights, and in this report we maintain that this issue should be dealt with seriously at European level.
We have had a shortage of tools to date. Directive 86/613 on the application of the principle of equality between men and women, which also covers agricultural activity, is not binding enough and we therefore maintain it should be revised and brought into line with the new situation. The Member States, for their part, must also recognise and safeguard the work of women farmers, as regards security and pensions, with contributions at levels compatible with family work.
Another proposal by our committee is that, within the framework of the programmes and the funding of the Structural Funds for rural development, especially the Leader Plus programme, particular attention should be paid to strengthening the role of women farmers. At the same time, the Leader Observatory must be strengthened, so that it covers the gaps in European statistics as regards the situation of women in rural areas and completes them by collating additional figures and introducing networks so that we can track the situation as it stands today and measure the progress we hope there will be in the future.
Similarly, the resolution which I recommend that you approve proposes replacing the current method of calculating subsidies, funding for farm holdings, which takes account of the holdings and not the active persons, with the result that women working as the second member of the couple lose out under a system which takes no account of the total number of people working on the holding and their real contribution. It is proposed to direct the funds obtained from redistributing direct support to programmes in favour of women farmers, while we call on the European Commission to make provision within the framework of the future programme for the Structural Funds for rural development, in the new programme period, for a special programme for women farmers, due to the fact that, so far, the horizontal lines in the Structural Funds have not achieved the expected results.
On the other hand, we call on both the European Commission and the Member States to make life in rural areas easier and more attractive to young women, young women farmers, because we see that the presence of women in rural areas is a declining demographic development. You can find all the proposals and the explanatory statement in our report."@en1
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