In the environment, women have also been responsible for care. Bringing water for their families, acting on climate change or defending the territory from extractive projects. But like domestic work, another type of care, there is still a lack of visibility and support to do it, say women like Beatriz Olivera, director of Engenera (Energy, Gender and Environment) A.C.
“We can talk about care work from whatever we are doing. [...] When it comes to environmental issues, women provide care that should allow them to participate in those spaces,” Olivera explained.
Engenera A.C. was born last January. She specializes in the gender and environmental approach; the participation of women defenders of the territory in extractive projects, mainly energy; and social action in communities in Oaxaca, mainly with women, girls and boys.
His first analysis “Women in the PPEF 2022”, which analyzes Annex 13 “Expenditures for Equality between Women and Men” of the Federation's Expenditure Budget, showed that the 64% increase compared to 2021 does not focus on care for women, but on the Welfare Program for Older Adults (91% of the total increase).
“Officials must ensure that the budget addresses issues related to women's health and the lack of a care system,” the analysis said.
- Why is it important to talk about gender, specifically the role of women, when it comes to the environment?
We see human rights organizations that only work on human rights; environmental organizations that don't see human rights; feminist organizations that don't see the environment, even though there is ecofeminism. The proposal we have (at Engenera A.C.) is to begin to see gender within environmental problems. We are very interested in doing analysis with this approach.
This is interesting to note because, for example, women do have a very important relationship with caring for nature. In part, it is linked to the fact that socially we have been pigeonholed into the role of caregivers, it is women who are carrying out domestic and care work.
- Regarding this position as caregivers, do you consider that women's participation in the environment has been developed and made visible?
I think we still have a long way to go. Women's participation hasn't grown as much as it could. There is talk of parity and it is positive, it should be noted that the spaces where decisions are being made are increasingly equal. We've seen it from the federal level, but it doesn't reach the local level. There are still community meetings where most of them are done by men. Women cannot yet participate under equal circumstances. Why? Because they are focused on other care such as home care and political issues are still outside.
I am not going to say that there are no longer cases in which we are told “not you, by women”, but it is also because the same conditions make you as a woman stay in the house. Men in public, women in private.
I remember that when the Yaqui tribe was deciding on the Independencia aqueduct, they told us that they were outside the sacred enclosure where women are not allowed to enter, there the consultation was carried out and they would go out to ask how they saw what was being discussed.
- What can we say that is missing from public policy to support women who care, environmentalists or land defenders?
We need to move towards a care system that allows women to have access to participate in these tasks without making it an additional burden, making it more equitable. This work of conscience and education needs to be done.
When it comes to the defense of the territory, there is a great debt to the defenders. We don't even have a commission to investigate threats, disappearances, or any grievances. The Escazú Agreement, which talks about participation and access to information, has not been instrumented, we do not see progress, nor has legislation been approved at the national level, let alone local.
It is also necessary for the budget issue to begin to be reflected in gender-related actions against climate change, much more participatory policies, programs that focus on women as a matter of priority.
Photo: María José Martínez/ Cuartoscura
- After your analysis of the 2022 Budget, what is the outlook for women next year?
It is a budget focused on the well-being of older adults. And that's not bad, it's just in the wrong place. If it is for older adults, in general, it would not have to be in a budget whose chapter is dedicated to women, or the rules would have to be changed so that this program can enter the section. I am referring to changing the operating rules to make explicit the impacts it will have on older women. But that's not it, it's just a show that is clearly known as one of the president's star programs.
It's complicated because very important issues for women are left out, such as the issue of violence, the issue of health, the issue of the environment. All that was left unraveled. The increases that occurred are minimal, I don't even think it's worth pointing out that there were increases because the percentage increases are ridiculous.
Regarding the environment, there are several studies and one of them (from the United Nations Organization) points out that women, girls and boys are 14 times more likely to die in a meteorological disaster than men. Because of vulnerability; because of care, for example, if it is a flood, it is women who support boys and girls; and because of information that does not reach both men and women. They told me the case of a woman who ran in the same direction during the overflow of a river, carried two children by her hand and dragged them away. She didn't have access to the information to know what to do in these cases and in the budget there is no mention of information campaigns for women.
- Beyond the institutional aspect, how could there be greater involvement of society in the task of caring that women carry with the environment?
In civil society, we can talk about care work no matter what we are doing. Since the participation we are having in some groups, let's not neglect the importance of women. In matters of care, it also seems to me that they must be made more and more equitable. The education of girls and boys must not continue to reproduce those roles that pigeonhole women into a position of mom - housewife - private space.
Of course, when it comes to women land defenders, there is a very important debt. Defenders cannot disappear as if nothing happened, as if they were just another number. This is an issue that the government is not taking seriously, there are no commissions to solve it, but socially we can demand it.
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