“We are the donor Spain, the one that maintains diversity” says Carmen Quintanilla

Women in the rural world and their future have been the central topic discussed at the conference organized by the King Jaume I Awards Foundation and held at the Cajamar headquarters.

The session began with a welcome from both the president of the King Jaume I Awards, Javier Quesada, and the host of the event, the territorial director of Cajamar, Jesús García, as well as Davinia Bono, general director of Equality and the Institute of Women.

After the opening of the event, the national president of AFAMMER, Carmen Quintanilla, who is also a permanent Parliamentarian of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, spoke. For Quintanilla, “4 decades ago rural women did not exist, which is why I founded AFAMMER, to give a voice to the women who lived in the countryside and worked in it and pursued equality and the defense of human rights. We had to bring our voice to the Spanish Parliament and break that invisibility that today is already a reality” Quintanilla has claimed public services in the rural area, not only for rural houses, but also for cooperatives, training for family care… only 5% “Of the caregivers are men, so it must be professionalized and made attractive for employment,” he claimed. “I refuse to talk about the emptied Spain that undermines the dignity of the men and women who live in the rural world; “We are the donor Spain, the one that maintains diversity,” she emphasized in a speech highly applauded by almost a hundred people in the audience.

Maite Cháfer has presented the first block dedicated to the Rural World in which Regina Monsalve, Maria J. Payá, Rebeca García and Alicia Vicente participated, who spoke about their experience, future vocations, the necessary symbiosis between livestock and organic farming, need for marketing and collaboration or the necessary visibility and recognition of women.

The second block was dedicated to knowing “where we are going” and it was Beatriz Rocamora, who introduced the four participants: Mª Dolores Ferrando, Carmen Olmo, Cruz López and Myriam Mestre, who spoke about the needs of the sector such as Internet access, the Cajamar Innova startup incubator and accelerator, the diversification of the economy in the Commonwealth, in addition to always wanting to move forward through cooperatives.

Finally, a table was held between Yolanda Morant, Isabel Navarro, Irene Ors, Celia Arzo and Inmaculada López who spoke about their professions, all related to agriculture, livestock and the rural world, especially in the case of Europe and Community aid that does not always meet expectations regarding the expected protection