Improving the situation of women in rural society

REPORT(1)

Doc. 7735

27 January 1997

Rapporteurs: Mrs Inga-Britt JOHANSSON, Sweden, Socialist Group,
and Mr Juha KORKEAOJA, Finland, Liberal, Democratic and Reformers' Group

Summary

Achieving real progress regarding the situation of women in society has, for a number of years, been a priority for many member countries of the Council of Europe and for the Organisation itself. Yet there is still major scope for improvement. The present report analyses the situation of women in rural areas. It concludes that in many fields and for many reasons rural women are at a disadvantage compared to women living in cities and urban regions. The dismantling of socio-economic structures in countries of central and eastern Europe has caused particularly grave problems for women in rural areas in these countries (for example, social security).

The report asks governments of member countries to improve data and information on the situation of rural women. Proposals are put forward with a view to increasing rural women's participation in decision-making and to include gender issues at all levels. It also suggests a series of measures to increase rural women's participation in the economy, in particular with regard to work, where the report suggests that women's work in raising children and running a (farm) household be fully recognised. It stresses the importance of education and training as well as the need to give women full access to land and credit. Finally, the report underlines the importance of improving the social situation of rural women and of recognising their role in the maintenance of the rural cultural heritage.

The report recommends that the situation of rural women be included in the Council of Europe's work on equality.

I. Draft recommendation

1.The Assembly refers to its Recommendation 1296 (1996) on a European Charter for Rural Areas and to Recommendation 1269 (1995) on achieving real progress in women's rights as from 1995, as well as to the World Summit on Social Development (Copenhagen, 9-13 March 1995) and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 4-15 September 1995).

2.Society in general, and even rural women themselves, have greatly undervalued and often completely ignored the role of women in maintaining and consolidating the living countryside with its rich and diversified heritage and traditions.

3.Women in rural society and especially in farming have always been an "invisible work force". Too little has been done to fully recognise women's role on farms and in rural communities _ legally, economically, technologically and in statistics.

4.A full recognition of women's role in rural development would greatly contribute to rural prosperity and would in particular help sustainable rural development in the poorer countries and regions of the world.

5.Women's work of raising children and of running a (farm) household, should be fully recognised as merit and qualification for other jobs and in statistics. It should be remunerated.

6.Policies attracting women and young girls to stay in the countryside must be promoted since those policies which lead to their leaving will eventually result in a total abandonment of rural areas.

7.The situation of women in rural regions in the European economies in transition is a particularly grave problem because of the dismantling of the former social and economic structures.

8.Consequently, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

  1. includes in its intergovernmental work programme specific activities of relevance to rural women;

  2. initiates this work by convening a conference to analyse the situation of women in rural areas, inviting representatives of organisations with specific interest and knowledge in this field, with a view to identifying priority areas where positive action is needed. The Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe should be associated with this work;

  3. calls on member governments, governments of countries having special guest or observer delegations with the Assembly, the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations to:

A. Improve data and information

  1. improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of data desegregated by gender and place of residence for both west European countries and the central and east European countries, which should be maintained within mainstream statistical information systems (such as Eurostat);

  2. develop new (and comparable) concepts, definitions and standards of economic indicators in order to accord greater visibility to, and promote greater understanding of, the relative economic contributions of women and men through paid and unpaid work in both the formal and informal sectors of rural economies;

  3. provide gender training programmes for statisticians and other users and producers of statistics, with a special emphasis on the nature and context of rural women's activities (different house-keeping activities, child-care, agricultural activities, etc.);

  4. carry out research to identify the ways in which economic, political and social reforms are differentially affecting various segments of the population (based on place of residence, gender, age, economic status, race, ethnicity, etc.);

  5. promote participatory research and data collection methodologies in rural areas in order to complete the gaps and weaknesses in statistical records.

B. Increase women's participation in decision-making

  1. create an environment that encourages rural women's increased participation in decision-making fora through the provision of child-care facilities at meetings and holding meetings at hours compatible with family schedules;

  2. develop and promote personal skills training courses for rural women on leadership, public-speaking, decision-making, and self-assertion;

  3. create new channels for enabling women to have an input into the decision-making process by promoting participatory approaches and involving women's groups and associations in decision-making processes at all levels;

  4. encourage dialogue and the building of links between local women's associations and networks and rural development organisations and authorities;

  5. promote affirmative action policies in technical ministries such as agriculture and rural development.

C. Mainstream gender

  1. ensure a gender perspective is incorporated into the mandates and activities of organisations through the development of concrete action plans and programmes;

  2. disseminate information among the organisations/institutions on the situation of rural women, their concerns, and the required strategies to be taken for their advancement;

  3. develop methodologies for integrating gender and the needs of rural women into planning processes at all levels;

  4. provide training and awareness-raising for decision-makers, as well as for staff of those ministries/government bodies dealing with rural issues, about the experiences and needs of women in rural areas and the importance of recognising gender in rural development policies and planning.

D. Social equality and cultural revival

  1. ensure that rural women have equal access to social institutions and services as compared to women living in cities;

  2. promote and disseminate information on the rich and diversified rural cultural heritage, and the role of women in maintaining it, among rural communities and between these and urban centres;

  3. promote initiatives which will provide rural girls and women with satisfactory and rewarding possibilities for filling their leisure hours.

E. Increase women's participation in the economy

E.1.Work

  1. broaden the range of income-generating opportunities for rural women, and especially for young women, by providing a more balanced support to rural activities, including part-time work, and by fully exploiting the opportunities offered by new communication technologies for a maximum of different professions that can be exercised in the countryside (see Assembly Recommendation 1122 (1990) on the revival of the countryside by means of information technology);

  2. promote women entrepreneurs by assuring adequate training and access to resources. The direct marketing and sale of farm products by the farmer and his/her spouse must be facilitated and promoted;

  3. develop legislative initiatives that promote equality in the wage system, including for more flexible working arrangements, and increase the status of women in agriculture, home enterprises, female-dominated professions, and in the informal sector. The income derived from family farming or family businesses should be shared equally between the spouses;

  4. establish pension and social security schemes for rural women in order to give them equal rights with men, such as those based on a more accurate evaluation of their contributions from both "productive" and "reproductive" activities;

  5. increase rural women's ability to enter into paid employment by improving the infrastructure of rural communities, including the increased provision of social and other services in rural areas, such as facilities for child-care and care of the elderly, health care centres, information and library facilities, public transportation, as well as marketing facilities;

  6. improve rural women's access to information and advice about employment and training opportunities through local media outlets (TV, radio, newspapers, etc.);

  7. encourage a better sharing of domestic and family responsibilities between women and men through school and community education campaigns, and through legislative initiatives that provide for more flexible working arrangements for both women and men, without subsequent loss in pay or status of employees.

E.2.Education and training

  1. establish local training institutions and programmes in rural areas and promote more innovative training models that fit women's daily schedules, including the development of part-time courses, community-based initiatives, correspondence courses, and distance learning at all educational levels, fully exploiting new information technology (see Assembly Recommendation 1122 (1990));

  2. promote training courses for rural women in entrepreneurship, village and farm tourism, agro-forestry, fish-farming, integrated production methods such as organic farming, as well as in business-planning, accounting, financing and loan procedures, issues regarding taxation and marketing, etc., but also in non-traditional rural occupations which can be performed anywhere by the use of new communication technology (architecture, translation, etc.);

  3. create and strengthen local advisory training programmes, extension services and basic and higher education for rural women to increase their awareness about, and access to, less traditional career and business opportunities.

E.3.Land

  1. undertake legislative and administrative reforms to give rural women, and especially married women, full and equal rights to land ownership;

  2. review land redistribution programmes to ensure safeguards for households where the head of the family is a woman as well as for the rights of married women to joint shares of property.

E.4.Credit

  1. revise fiscal regulations for farms and businesses to take account of the particular characteristics of rural enterprises;

  2. promote special credit programmes to facilitate the setting up of small businesses by rural women;

  3. review the access to financial credit by married women.

II. Explanatory memorandum by Mrs JOHANSSON and Mr KORKEAOJA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. The European context

3. Women and work

i. Employment and unemployment

ii. Earnings and workloads

4. Access to resources

i. Training and education

ii. Land

iii. Credit

5. Decision-making

6. New possibilities

i. New information and communication technologies

ii. Co-operative ventures

iii. Society's responsibility

7. Conclusions

1. Introduction

The rural areas of Europe have, during this century, undergone a process of structural transformation. Urbanisation, the increasing importance of the environment, and agricultural policy reform have created important challenges for policy-makers to develop comprehensive programmes to maintain the European countryside while at the same time promoting sustainable opportunities in rural areas.

Structural reforms often impose hardships on different segments of the population, and in other regions of the world this has been shown to be the case especially for rural women, but structural transformation can also provide new opportunities. This report serves to assist the debate on necessary policy reforms in this field. The first section provides an overview of the European context which characterises the situation of rural women. The second section identifies the specific obstacles rural women face in adapting to the changing situation, including their limited access to employment, double and even triple work burdens, lack of access to productive resources, such as training and education, land and credit, as well as their continuing under-representation in decision-making bodies and fora. New opportunities are, however, offered by the use of new communication technologies. The final section of the paper outlines the major recommendations to improve the situation of women in rural society, and thus overall policy efficiency within the context of structural adjustment.

The present report has several limitations, including the lack of information available on women in rural areas of Europe. Although statistical data and information desegregated by gender and place of residence may exist at the national or local levels, it is necessary to exercise caution when making generalisations at the European level due to the problems of data comparability. The present report does not contain a comprehensive review and analysis of all statistical indicators for every member country.

Nevertheless, and although the member countries are diverse in regards to their social, economic and political systems, the nature of the problems and objectives to be pursued are strikingly similar. Thus, despite the limitations mentioned above, the report should serve as a general overview of rural women's specific constraints and needs in a changing era, as well as their opportunities from which to develop concrete policies and action plans to improve their situation.

Your rapporteurs would like to express their thanks to Ms Andrea Leppart for her valuable assistance in drawing up the present report. The final drafting of this report greatly benefited from close co-operation and an exchange of views with the "Rural Women" Working Group of the European Confederation of Agriculture and the Women Farmers' Committee of the Committee of Professional Organisations of the European Union (COPA).

2. The European context

Over the last few decades a variety of general trends have characterised the evolving situation of women in rural areas of Europe. In western Europe, the importance of agriculture, as measured by its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment and income, has been diminishing. Agricultural policy reforms, such as those related to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the recently negotiated General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is implemented by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), will have a substantial impact on wider socio-economic issues, as witnessed by the difficulties associated with international negotiations on agricultural trade. Reductions in agricultural employment can have ripple effects on rural communities, as noted by the exodus of the population from the countryside, especially among young people, and the subsequent reductions in public services as they become more and more difficult to maintain.

In the central and eastern European Countries (CEECs), in terms of area, contribution to GDP and share in total employment, agriculture is relatively more important than in western Europe. However, although agriculture has long been the mainstay of the economy in rural areas, its role is also decreasing. With the closure of state farms and other state enterprises due to the reforms inherent in the transition to a market economy, unemployment has increased and the social and communal services/infrastructure of rural areas has been lost, as they were often connected to the agricultural production system under the centrally planned economy.

In response to such changes, a common perception has emerged that the economic life of rural areas increasingly depends upon what happens in a wider range of sectors, and that the concept of rural development is no longer exclusively based on agricultural production. As a result, European governments have come to a consensus on the need to develop well-targeted policies to enhance rural economies, primarily by facilitating the creation of new economic opportunities. The Assembly, in its proposal for a European charter for rural areas as a framework convention of the Council of Europe, has actively contributed to giving a new political priority to rural development.

Growth per se seems insufficient to maintain the prosperity of rural communities. It must be supported by policies and programmes to ensure that its benefits are widely distributed throughout the rural population. Given rural women's low participation in policy-making, combined with their invisibility in national statistics, it will be important to ensure that issues of concern to rural women, such as those outlined below, are included in the design and implementation of such policies and programmes.

3. Women and work(2)

At present, there is little comparative information on the situation of women in the rural economies of Europe, especially in regard to comparisons between western European countries and the CEECs. At the national level, the studies that do exist tend to focus on women's roles in farming. While in the past, the terms rural and agriculture were often used almost interchangeably, the current situation in western Europe reveals that in only a few areas are farm women the majority of rural women, such as in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece. In central and eastern Europe, while the percentage of women economically active in agriculture is greater, most of the research on women farmers was carried out in the 1980s, and therefore does not reflect the changes in their situation following the privatisation of state farms and the transition to a market economy.

Moreover, even when national and regional statistics on the economically active population do exist, they tend to be of limited value in looking at the extent to which women are economically involved in rural communities, as conventional definitions of the labour force often underestimate the extent of women's work. These definitions tend to place more emphasis on paid work and introduce gender biases in the distinction between non-remunerative productive activities at the household and community level, and productive activities for sale or exchange.

For instance, in regard to economic activity rates, many rural women may not be registered as "active" in official figures due to the nature and context of their work, which is often unpaid or consists of activities primarily carried out in the informal sector. Moreover, official figures of unemployment may actually underestimate the number of unemployed rural women, since such figures can mask women's underemployment, as their responsibilities for a wide range of unpaid household and community tasks leave them insufficient time to generate income from other activities. In addition, due to rural women's lack of access to information and advice about available jobs, they may not be actively seeking work in the formal economy and therefore do not register as unemployed in the figures.

Your rapporteurs find it unacceptable that women's work in the household, which includes a variety of economic, maintenance and other tasks, is ignored in statistics and is not recognised as a qualification for other jobs. It is incomprehensible that the work involved in raising children should not be recognised as a merit that should qualify for a variety of managerial and other jobs. This situation must change so that women's work of raising children and running a (farm) household are fully recognised as qualifications for other jobs, reflected in statistics and remunerated.

Despite these constraints and shortcomings, the following discussion provides an overview of the basic trends with regard to the situation of rural women's employment and unemployment, and in their earnings and workloads as typically defined by the gender division of labour.

i.Employment and unemployment

In most of Europe, agriculture and associated upstream and downstream industries are playing a diminishing role in the employment of rural populations, including women, although agriculture remains an important employer in rural areas of the South and Ireland, and in most CEECs. In fact, in many of these areas women's share of agricultural employment has actually increased, which in some instances, and especially in the CEECs, is related to increasing levels of unemployment in other sectors.

In most countries of western Europe, however, overall activity rates of rural women remain lower than those of rural men, and in most instances lower than those of urban women. Yet at the same time, women's average share in the labour force increased in rural areas during the 1980s, due primarily to the steady growth in the service sector, which has tended to favour female employment. This trend is expected to continue throughout Europe, and especially in the CEECs, where the agricultural sector has become strained in absorbing the increasing number of unemployed workers.

In the CEECs, although full-time paid employment among women was common prior to the transition period (and even at present their economic activity rates in many countries remain higher than those of men), women's share of employment in all sectors has fallen dramatically during the privatisation process, as women have often been the first to lose their jobs since they were more likely to be employed in state farms and other state enterprises. Even in private industries women's employment has declined, due to a combination of both the closing of many local branches of town-based firms due to bankruptcy as well as to the discriminatory attitudes of private sector employers, especially during periods of severe male unemployment.

ii.Earnings and workloads

Rural women's access to paid work is crucial to achieving self-reliance and the well-being of dependent family members. Yet for many rural women, there is no financial remuneration at all, especially in relation to the hours and level of responsibility of their work. Where wages are paid, rural women's earnings tend to be the lowest in areas where family farming predominates, and in all sectors, their wages are generally lower than those of both urban women and rural men. This is due to a variety of factors. On the one hand, most employment available in rural areas is predominantly for low or unskilled workers, and thus in the lowest paying sectors. On the other hand, because of women's traditional household and community responsibilities, and thus their need for more flexible working arrangements, their employment options tend to be limited to the least demanding, least responsible, and hence the least financially rewarding posts and occupations. At the same time, indirect discrimination against women persists, as the type of work done by women is often undervalued, and thus the occupations that tend to favour female employment are also in the lowest-paying sectors. Machinery and tools for many rural occupations are often designed by men for use by men. This also adds to the drawbacks for women working in agriculture and other sectors. Better access to the labour market should not, however, lead to increased total workload.

Although rural women receive lower wages than urban women or rural men, most evidence suggests that their working hours are in fact longer. For instance, in many countries rural women have the primary responsibility for "domestic" tasks, including food processing and preparation, cleaning, child care, care for the elderly, etc. In addition, most women are also involved in "productive" work, such as on the family farm or business, and spend more time in community activities as well. In the CEECs, the amount of time women spend in unpaid tasks is even greater, as the level of household technology in rural areas remains quite low, and most households continue to lack the basic and up-to-date appliances such as dishwashers, telephones, freezers, and automatic washing machines.

Although the gender division of labour affects women's ability to enter the paid labour force on a full-time, permanent basis in both urban and rural settings, in rural areas the lack of facilities for child-care, health care and care for the elderly, combined with a lack of public transport, has made it even more difficult for women to combine paid employment with caring for a family. This situation has become especially acute in central and eastern European countries, as the social infrastructure in villages was often connected to the agricultural production system; the break up of the state and co-operative farms has also meant the loss of social services such as kindergartens, libraries and child-care centres, among others.

As a general rule, the income derived from family farming or from a family business should be equally shared between the spouses.

4. Access to resources

Recognised or not, rural women play a very active role in promoting the economic well-being of rural communities. Although women's essential reproductive role and the gender division of labour limits the amount of time rural women can devote to "productive" activities, evidence suggests that, due to the process of structural adjustment, the trend will be towards increasing rather than diminishing participation and contributions. Diversification in agriculture has opened up new opportunities, as has the fact that more and more rural women are engaging in non-agricultural work, a diversification that also broadens the scope for overall rural economic development.

However, sustainable rural development does not occur in a vacuum. Measures to alleviate the costs of transition will only amount to temporary subsidies unless resource flows towards rural areas are able to create a sustainable increase in new economic opportunities, mainly through a diversification of the economic base of rural areas. Increased education and training, and improved access to land and credit, will facilitate the opening up of new opportunities for rural women, which in turn will provide even further stimulus to rural economic growth and well-being. In this context, special emphasis should be given to the training and promotion of women entrepreneurs.

i.Training and education

Rural women's improved training and education is crucial to enable them to acquire the knowledge and skills required to expand the range of their income-generating activities in a changing rural economy. In general, however, although not in all countries, women in rural areas tend to be less educated than both urban women and rural men. Moreover, young, educated (and often single) women are more likely to migrate to urban areas, which reduces the overall education levels of women remaining in rural communities and, over time, could eventually lead to the total abandonment of rural areas.

In many instances, for young people to acquire higher education and training, they are often required to leave their rural community, which tends to decrease their chance of return. Access to courses in vocational training and continuing education is also difficult in rural areas, due to distance, lack of transportation and child-care facilities, etc. Moreover, lack of available time acts as a further constraint, due to rural women's double and often triple workloads, as discussed above.

When women do participate in training courses, the subject matter studied usually deals with activities of such limited nature, scope and profitability that the result is often further marginalisation rather than mainstreaming(3) of women into the changing economic base of rural communities. For instance, in western Europe, women's vocational training and education has primarily been concentrated in traditionally "feminine" subjects, such as clothing, handicrafts, rural home economics, food processing and agro-tourism. In the CEECs, while rural women's professional education and training has concentrated on agriculture, horticulture and viticulture, it has been oriented towards large-scale production under centrally-planned economies and thus based on a very specialised and narrow level of expertise. Such training has yet to be adapted to the changing demands of rural communities, such as the need for training in environmental-friendly production methods, including organic farming, fish farming and farm forestry, or for training in business planning, financing and loan procedures, and in entrepreneurism.

New communication technologies could offer possibilities of satisfying training and education needs in the rural areas, for smaller groups as well as individually, for general and for specialised training. Not only courses relevant to traditional rural occupations should be available but also education allowing rural women access to non-typical rural employment. A series of professions, such as architect, translator, etc., could be performed by rural people using modern communication tools. There is a need to rethink distance education up to university level. Diversified rural development is dependent on the skills and creativity of its young people for the exploitation of new opportunities.

ii.Land

Land ownership, or in some cases long-term land-lease contracts, is an important asset in rural areas, as land is often used as collateral for obtaining loans, and as criteria for membership in co-operatives, farmers organisations, and other rural associations. However, comparative national and regional data on the gender composition of rural land ownership in Europe is lacking. Thus, although the agrarian structure in western Europe is undergoing a significant transformation, with the growth of some middle-sized farms into large farms on the one hand, and a disappearance of small farms, or a decline of other middle-sized farms into small farms on the other, there is little information as how this development has affected women as compared to men, including whether the number of properties owned by women has increased or decreased, or whether the size of holdings are becoming smaller for women or for men, or for both. The data that is available suggests that only a small percentage of landowners are women, and that the size of land that women own is often smaller than the size of land owned by men.

In the CEECs, since most state farms are being privatised, the proportion of private farms is increasing. As land ownership registration and the settlement of property rights are still evolving, there is a lack of data on the extent to which women have been included in the process of privatisation of state assets. However, research in other regions has demonstrated that most land reform programmes typically use the "head of household" concept as the basis for land redistribution. In practice, this concept tends to ignore both the existence of female-headed households and the rights of married women to joint shares of property. Thus, under these programmes, land rights have almost exclusively been transferred to men.

Although it is possible in the CEECs for a woman to own land, the information available suggests that most of the privatised land is owned either jointly by women and men or by men alone. However, in many countries most of the land owned by women is in the form of small "subsidiary" farms, which were started by women as a result of job losses in other enterprises, in order to generate a small income and provide basic food for household subsistence.

iii.Credit

Rural women's access to credit is crucial as it enhances their ability to take advantage of new economic opportunities, whether they plan to start up a new business, improve their farming practices, or diversify into non-farming activities such as tourism, handicrafts, environmental work and forestry. Small businesses, which are typical of rural areas, tend to be more vulnerable to economic fluctuations and often require considerable support at the initial setting-up stage. However, in many instances, even though rural women may be motivated to start entrepreneurial activities, they often lack the capital for the initial investment a self-employed person needs.

Although gender-desegregated data is lacking, in general, rural women's access to credit appears limited. A variety of legal, socio-cultural and institutional constraints continue to restrict rural women's access to credit, including: low educational levels of rural women; lack of collateral (such as land); lack of knowledge regarding credit programmes and opportunities; complex procedures for securing credit; bias in lending institutions and fiscal regulations, which do not take into account the special characteristics of rural businesses and their small-scale nature; and lack of transportation to credit institutions which are often located in urban areas or more populated rural towns and villages.

5. Decision-making

Decisions in rural areas, as in general, are currently made in fora or groups that are predominantly masculine, and tend to reflect the values, perspectives and life experiences of the people who make them. The role of rural women in public life is weak; although they may be elected to the village board or local government, they are often not represented in proportion to their involvement in rural activities, and thus have a lesser ability to influence the decisions made in these institutions. The participation of women at local authority level is most important.

With regard to female membership and holding of office in agricultural/rural organisations, while women are present in greater or lesser degrees (except in the Czech Republic and Slovenia, where women's membership is restricted), they tend to comprise a low proportion of the membership and are often not represented in the higher levels of leadership. Women's representation in decision-making positions within ministries and other government bodies is similarly low, and women policy-makers tend to be concentrated in social ministries such as education and health. Only rarely do women hold such positions in technical ministries such as agriculture or rural development, which has many implications for the policies generated there. Women's representation in the local power structures, such as at the district or provincial level or in village or municipal authorities, is also limited. As these bodies are often responsible for local resource allocation, women's lack of representation at this level has many implications in terms of their access to such resources.

In addition to the socio-cultural factors and gender stereotypes which often limit women's participation in public life, other constraints include women's limited time and energy, due to their heavy work burdens, as mentioned above. Moreover, the majority of public bodies and organisations tend to focus on the interests of male members and do not sufficiently concern themselves with the needs of rural women, which are often relegated to the private sphere of household and family.

However, while women continue to be under represented in more formal decision-making processes, they are increasingly being heard at another level. This has mainly occurred through the increasing number of women's groups and associations and other non-governmental organisations. Within these groups, women have the space to articulate their concerns, since they do not have to compromise their activities in the private sphere with the interest in political participation identified with the public sphere. Moreover, these groups serve as catalysts for increasing women's education, training and employment activities, and often provide necessary and accessible child-care support.

The importance of NGOs to rural women varies from country to country, as does their focus on rural issues. In general, the growth in recent years of NGOs and women's associations which pay attention to gender issues has benefitted rural women. At the same time, however, most NGOs and women's associations tend to be urban-biased, lack a substantial presence in rural regions, and tend to focus on traditionally "feminine" topics such as home economics, nutrition, health care, etc. In addition, although traditional rural institutions and organisations have, to some extent, begun to address the concerns of their female constituents through the development of "women's sections" or "units", in many instances such concerns remain sideline issues, and thus the problem remains of how to integrate these issues into their overall programme of work.

6. New possibilities

i.New information and communication technologies

Not only rural society as a whole would benefit from such developments, but girls and women would be given new opportunities for the improvement of their school, work and family life. An interesting experience in this field is the Swedish "telecottage" initiative, which started in 1985, and which is described in the Assembly Document 6160 referred to above. Another example is the decentralisation of office activities within the Swedish insurance company FOLKSAM. Both are pragmatic examples of how local or company initiatives, assisted and encouraged by policies to favour new rural developments, can have a significant impact on rural employment of all kinds. Internet and other infrastructures could, if correctly monitored, bring a new revolution to rural society.

ii.Co-operative ventures

Many functions in our society, for example hospitals and retirement homes, but also kindergartens, post-offices, banks, shops, etc., require a certain "critical mass" to be economically viable. A large number of scarcely populated rural communities, in particular those remote from urban centres, have lost many services completely or seen them centralised in new rural centres _ often at a considerable distance. Co-operative initiatives can solve such inconveniences if encouraged by the right policy measures as has been shown by a co-operative venture in a small Swedish community in the county of J�mtland. This community had no home for the elderly. A group of women therefore decided to create a new service for these persons by offering them the necessary assistance to stay in their own homes instead of moving to a distant home for the elderly. The new community co-operative has been a considerable success since it filled a need at the local level. It was stimulated by a policy measure which allows the public sector to pay for the service rendered (at a reduced cost compared to the traditional "central institution"). The initiative has created part-time jobs for the members of the co-operative and since the elderly also participate in it, it has given them new tasks and a new feeling of worth. For example, one elderly man was given the task of cutting wood for some of the other aged persons and this gave him a positive sense of being needed for the functioning of the co-operative and contributed to a new sense of well-being. This and other examples show that the policy measures which encourage the use of local people part-time to fill functions not warranting a full-time employee could considerably benefit the employment situation of women in rural areas.

iii.Society's responsibility

The responsibility of central and local authorities for the maintenance and strengthening of the economic, environmental, social and cultural functions of rural areas has been clearly stated in the Assembly's Recommendation 1296 (1996) on a European Charter for Rural Areas. With regard to rural women, access to the same social benefits as women living in cities must be guaranteed. This is a matter of social justice and will create new jobs in rural areas. Social policies must be reformed to achieve this goal. Locally available human and other resources should be mobilised for this purpose.

Policies should encourage and facilitate family life. The well-being of this basic "cell" in society is fundamental for the well-being of society as a whole. Better protection of the family should also reduce violence within it _ often caused by stress and external problems.

Rural society is also experiencing an increase in the number of single persons. Particular support must be given to single mothers so that they and their children can lead a normal life.

Local cultural activities, where women often play a major role, must attract more attention in cultural policies. The rich, diversified cultural heritage of Europe will be lost if such policy reforms are not implemented. Media policies could also assure that urban people become more aware of rural treasures and should allow rural people to communicate with each other on issues of common interest. It is evident that social and cultural themes will be of interest as well as economic development. Rural people all over Europe should be able, through the media, to learn more about each other _ not least in terms of history and culture.

Finally, in present-day society, leisure activities have seen a rapid development in many urban centres. How is the situation in rural Europe? Are there attractive possibilities for girls and women? Your rapporteurs fear that this is not often the case. Central and local authorities are responsible for the reform of policies in this area. A (re)vitalisation of rural areas must allow people to express themselves not only in their work but also outside it. The quality of rural life also depends on access to cultural institutions and opportunities for social contacts.

7. Conclusions

The structural transformation taking place in rural Europe can have differing effects on different segments of the population. As the above discussion demonstrates, in almost all rural areas unemployment rates are higher among women than among men, and even these figures most likely underestimate the number of rural women who would like to work if suitable employment was available. In addition, attempts to reduce government expenditure on public services, such as in child-care and care for the elderly, has meant that communities and households have had to take responsibility for their provision, and the majority of such burdens have tended to fall on women. Rural women's double and often triple workloads, combined with their limited access to productive factors such as land and credit, has meant that they have less available time and resources with which to adapt to their new circumstances. Moreover, rural women's continuing under-representation in decision-making bodies and fora means that their most pressing concerns stand a strong chance of being neglected in the measures being designed to alleviate the costs of transition. However, effective adjustment _ economic, political and social _ requires taking into account the differences in rural women's constraints and needs, as well as their resources and skills, when formulating policies at the international, regional, national and local levels.

Although the information presented in this memorandum is limited and presents only a general overview of the situation of women in rural areas of Europe, due to the lack of data as well as other situational constraints, a number of areas for improvement can be identified. The proposals for possible recommendations are divided into five categories: improving data and information; increasing women's participation in the economy; increasing women's participation in decision-making; mainstreaming gender; and social equality and cultural revival.

However, it is important to emphasise that the overall effectiveness of the prescribed strategies ultimately lies with the member countries _ government commitment to, and investment in, the development, implementation and monitoring of comprehensive policies and programmes that take into account the specific constraints, needs and opportunities of rural women, is a prerequisite to attaining the envisioned objectives. Moreover, it will also be important that governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations collaborate in the design and implementation of the recommended strategies in order to avoid duplication of efforts and resources, and to ensure that the lessons learnt from previous experiences on improving the situation of women in rural society are taken into account, including those from other geographic regions of the world. In this connection, your rapporteurs find it worrying that many of the programmes of the European Union in favour of rural development cannot be used to stimulate inter-regional co-operation or multilateral co-operation involving European Union and non-European Union countries.

Finally, new communication technologies can offer rural society, and not least its women and girls, new opportunities. This must, however, not cause any relaxation in the efforts to provide rural areas with an effective communications infrastructure of roads, trains, buses, etc., as set out in Assembly Recommendation 1296 (1996) on a European Charter for Rural Areas. The inhabitants of the countryside must not be given the feeling of being isolated. Further, policies in support of part-time employment in multiple sectors, including the social and services sectors, could create employment for women as well as for men and would enhance the well-being of rural society.

Reporting committee: Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Budgetary implication for the Assembly: none.

Reference to committee: Doc. 7240 and Reference No. 2000 of 15 March 1995.

Draft recommendation adopted unanimously by the committee on 10 January 1997.

Members of the committee: MM. Scheer (Chairman), Figel, Seiler (Vice-Chairmen), MM. Adamiak, Attard Montalto, Bernardini, Mrs Burbien�, MM. Collavini, Carvalho, Cern�, Connolly, Couveinhes, Diana, Dovgan, Eltz, Feric, Ghesqui�re (Alternate: Weyts), Ghimpu, Gnaga, Haraldsson, Hoejland, Holte, Hornung, Sir Ralph Howell (Alternate: Mr Alexander), Mr Jeambrun, Mrs Johansson, MM. Kiratlioglu, Korkeaoja, Koulouris, Van der Linden (Alternate: Woltjer), Lord Mackie of Benshie, MM. Metelko, Michels, Mrs Moser, MM. Penz, Prusak, Rippinger (Alternate: Kollwelter), Sainz Garc�a, Savitsky, Sinka, Szak�l, Telgmaa, Jack Thompson, Tribunovski.

N.B.The names of those members present at the meeting are printed in italics.

Secretary to the committee: Mr Lervik.

Note: 1By the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Note: 2Due to the lack of data at the European level on the situation of rural women in the economy, this section relies heavily on the findings presented in the following two documents: The Economic Role and Situation of Women in Rural Areas, prepared by Dr Mary Braithwaite for the European Commission, 1994; and The Socio-Economic Situation and Status of Rural Women in Selected Central and Eastern European Countries (draft), prepared by Ms Pirjo Siiskonen for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), 1995.

Note: 3The term "mainstreaming" means the integration of a gender perspective in all fields of activity and all fields of life.