Rural Women Workers Collective of Maranhão (CMTR-MA)

The project looks to continue the training and mobilization of rural women workers who are struggling for their rights through recognition of the value of their work on the land. In order to guarantee these rights, mechanisms will be created to allow these women to participate in discussions in these territories and with the authorities responsible.

• Mobilization workshops and gathering publicity for the project in five municipalities: São Roberto, São Mateus, Alto Alegre, Peritoro and Esperantinópolis (MA).
• Research on women’s current situations for the formation of groups in these five locations.
• Registration of women to find out how many lack access to land.
• Training workshops to raise awareness of the right to land in each of the locations.
• Forwarding of a proposal to the relevant authorities with the demands raised by during the activities.

Brazil has one of the highest concentrations of land in the world, with 76% in the hands of large farms and enterprise, and only 24% left over for family farms. Rural land exclusion is however the result of a historic choice on the part of the Brazilian state to invest in a small number of landowners, without guaranteeing access to land for the majority of the population.

Rural women workers are those who suffer the most from the lack of land access policies and those who resist most strongly in areas of conflict. Currently, in order to retire, they rely on a declaration from their husband or the landowner. This problem mainly affects women who lack awareness of their rights.

The group’s project, “Rural Women Workers Learning and Seeking Their Rights” was supported as part of the Brazil Fund’s annual 2007 funding round.

The Rural Women Worker’s Collective of Maranhão (CMTR) seeks to promote and coordinate rural women’s organizations throughout the state, encouraging exchanges with national and international institutions. It holds meetings, courses and training workshops dealing with gender, class and female identity issues, strengthening the struggle for the guarantee of rural women workers’ rights.

CMTR is part of the Network of Rural Producers of the Northeast, Latin American and Caribbean Rural Women Workers Network (RLAC), the Friends of Women Network, the National Network for Documentation for Rural Workers, the State Food and Nutritional Security Forum, the State Women’s Council, the Rural Sustainable Development Council, the Specialized Family Agriculture Meeting Group (REAF) and the State Solidary Economy Network.