DigiWomen

New Scottish research has found that the shift to virtual meetings and events due to the Covid-19 pandemic improved accessibility to knowledge exchange, networking, and organisations for women working on farms and in agricultural careers across Scotland.
The research found the pandemic also provided a ‘legitimising’ window of opportunity for greater female involvement in farming and crofting activities. In some cases women family members replaced staff who were prevented from travelling due to lockdowns.
Dr Lee-Ann Sutherland, a research leader in the James Hutton Institute’s Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences group, said: “The experience of Covid-19 movement restrictions has shown that there are quite achievable ways to ensure that women can participate in more agricultural industry activities. It’s important to the vitality of the agricultural sector that these lessons are taken forward into the future.”
The aim of this latest project was to understand the impact of the recommendations of the Scottish Government’s Women in Agriculture Taskforce, and the influence of other initiatives that support ‘women in agriculture’, on women’s experiences working on farms and in the agricultural industry in Scotland.
Dr Annie McKee, a social researcher in land management at the Hutton, added: “However, barriers remain to the recruitment and participation of women to positions of leadership in Scottish agriculture. These barriers include cultural assumptions, attitudes, and arguably unconscious bias.”
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands Mairi Gougeon said: “Delivering equality of opportunity will make Scottish agriculture a more resilient and economically sustainable industry and this will help women realise their potential and support business innovation.”
Other topics discussed during the focus groups included the improved visibility of women in agriculture, the opportunities and challenges in accessing training, the provision of childcare in rural areas, mental health in agriculture, and the influence of generational change in driving greater gender equality.
Full report can be found at https://www.hutton.ac.uk/news/new-research-illustrates-impact-covid-19-pandemic-women-agriculture

New research illustrates impact of Covid-19 pandemic on women in agriculture | The James Hutton Institute New research published by the James Hutton Institute has found that the shift to virtual meetings and events due to the Covid-19 pandemic improved accessibility to knowledge exchange, networking, and organisations for women working on farms and in agricultural careers across Scotland.

Closing the end of September with another presentation of project results by European Cultural Epicenter in Bitola, N.Macedonia 🇲🇰. We share a few photos from a couple of moments from this second multiplier event.

In the 2nd half of September, European Cultural Epicenter in Bitola, N.Macedonia 🇲🇰 had two multiplier events where some of the project results were presented. We share a few photos from a couple of moments during the first event.

Some photos from the Slovak multiplier event NATURE - WOMAN - LIFE organised by Technická univerzita v Košiciach which took place in Kosice on 22 September. A big THANK YOU to everyone who came to see us 🫶👍👏

We would like to invite you to our project event NATURE - WOMAN - LIFE. Come to Kosice, Slovakia this Thursday 22 September, we are looking forward to welcoming all of you! Information and programme attached below.

After the series of online meetings, the Digiwomen team was happy to meet 2nd time in person for the TPM meeting in Bitola, N.Macedonia. Follow the link below to find a brief overview of the content covered during the TPM meeting.

https://digiwomen.eu/blog/index.php?entryid=21

Katarína Vengová, a successful Slovak winemaker 🍷 has exchanged pumps and a skirt for sturdy shoes and a warm jacket. She was the last to join the family business https://www.facebook.com/VinoPavelka but she found her way around quickly as winemaking blood runs through her veins. Today, she is responsible for the projects, trade, and export of the company, which in more than a quarter of a century of its existence has grown into one of the most prosperous wine companies in Slovakia.
In the article https://akcnezeny.sk/vymenila-lodicky-za-pevne-topanky-a-teplu-bundu-katarina-vengova-o-rodinnom-podnikani-s-hroznom/ Katarína talks about what it's like to be a woman in the wine and vineyard business. We select from her statements:
👉About On and Ona (Him and Her) wine pair: "People literally asked for Him wine after we started making Her wine. In short, they wanted a wine with a story for their partner. The creation of Her wine was the request of our female customers, who mostly prefer pink and sweeter wines.“
👉About the position of women in business: "My mother always laughed, saying that when I went on a school trip as a child, I always brought home more money than my parents gave me (laughter). Business is probably in my blood. Well, I have to admit that the business world is a little hard on women. It's hard for guys to let us in. All honor to every woman who manages to develop her business and take care of her family at the same time."
👉About future plans and ambitions: “Probably my biggest lifetime challenge will be balancing my life roles - wife, mother and entrepreneur. I want to manage that as best as I can. And when I have a glass of our Her wine in retirement with my grown-up children and my grandchildren running around me, I will be the most satisfied."
Fingers crossed, Katarína! 🍀🍀🍀

Eliška Štefankovičová Gieciová, manager of Muránsky salaš farm, says that their success during the corona crisis was brought about by reorienting to online sales. "People have moved from the big chains to us and are staying loyal. Domestic production convinced them. And word of the fresh sheep's cheeses quickly spread and attracted others". At the farm, they sell sheep products from the milk of sheep grazing on the beautiful pastures on the edge of the Muránska Planina National Park. More information: https://www.rimava.sk/spravy-z-regionu/muransky-salas-predaj-dodavka-muransky-syrec/

Muránsky salaš už predáva aj z vlastnej dodávky. Na kúpu muránskeho syrca je poradovník MURÁŇ – Muránsky salaš zaviedol pre svojich zákazníkov novinku. Svoje produkty bude ponúkať aj na rôznych podujatiach formou predaja z upravenej dodávky. My sme ich stretli na ich úplne prvom predajnom výjazde počas soboty 18. septembra 2021. „Zákazníci si naše výrobky môžu k....

Did you see these key findings from "The professional status of rural women in the EU"?
• The EU policy proposals suggest different ways of closing the employment gap in rural areas
by improving the adaptability of workers and enterprises, and ensuring better education and
skills.
• Employment rates are highly influenced by gender differences; the EU-28 employment rate
gender gap in 2015 was 11,6%.
• Women in rural areas had less employment opportunities compared both to men in rural areas
and women in urban areas.
• Women are more likely than men to work in the informal economy, lacking opportunities to
access better jobs and social security coverage.
• In rural areas the share of women in self-employment is about 38%. The greatest number of
self-employed people in rural areas are in France, Germany and Italy.
• The EU-28 unemployment rate in rural areas was 7.9% in 2018. Historically, women have been
more affected by unemployment than men.
• Women farmers have significantly less access to, control over, and ownership of land and other
productive assets compared to their male counterparts.
• For the economy as a whole, in 2016, women's gross hourly earnings were on average 16.2%
below those of men in the European Union (EU-28) and 16.3% in the euro area (EA-19). Across
Member States, the gender pay gap varied by 20 percentage points, ranging from 5.2% in
Romania to 25.3% in Estonia.
Read more at:https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2019/608868/IPOL_STU(2019)608868_EN.pdf

Finally the Digiwomen team met in person. After all this time working on individual tasks and doing monthly online coordination meetings, we met for the TPM meeting in Maribor, Slovenia.

☝ Transnational Project Meetings promote interconnectivity between people, they complement ideas and approaches in education, foster collaboration among the project partner organisations and the involved people, promote innovation, an opportunity to plan ahead, monitor the progress and resolve any pending management issues.
📌 Here is a brief overview of the content covered during the TPM meeting:
📍 Steering committee meeting: revision of reporting, revision of dissemination plan and reach, revision of the timeline.
📍 Intellectual Output #3 - Update and revision of the plan of work.
📍 Intellectual Output #4: Update on the E-learning platform, the status of the art, and planning of the plan of work.
📍 Update on the dissemination.
📍 We have done round presentations of the work done so far in each of the organizations: contributions to IO's, dissemination activities, internal work, etc.
📍 Steering committee meeting: setting new deadlines and tasks after the TPM
📍 Cultural visit to Maribor.

Dream Farm is a small farm on Žitný ostrov in the village of Ňárad, Slovakia. On almost 30 acres of land, the founders of the farm Eliška and Michal mostly focus on growing leafy vegetables in a regenerative way, without the use of chemical fertilizers or sprays. "All microorganisms have a role to play in the soil. When a person disturbs it, a problem arises. In agriculture, this then manifests itself in diseases and the presence of pests," they explain why they do not use chemistry in cultivation.
They say: "Organic farming is an extremely promising sector. It is good to raise awareness of small-scale farming that is available to young people. In a small area they are able to produce quality and sustainability. It does not require many inputs, one does not need to own hundreds of hectares to make a profit. At the same time, they can become respected members of the community and a place where people meet and draw attention to, for example, climate change, which is directly linked to agriculture. I hope we will inspire other young Slovaks to follow our example." Sources: https://euractiv.sk/section/ekonomika-a-euro/interview/eliska-a-michal-z-dream-farm-ryl-sme-doteraz-pouzili-raz-do-nasej-pody-sa-vratil-zivot/ and https://www.facebook.com/dreamfarmnarad

Did you know that one of the main goals of the European Commission's "Farm to Fork" food strategy is to increase support for organic farming in all EU countries? By 2030, organic farms should account for at least 25 percent of EU agricultural land. The main objectives are:
- to reduce the use of chemical preservatives and fertilizers,
- to increase animal welfare,
- reverse the loss of biodiversity,
- make sure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food.
Find out more about this strategy and how it relates to your country by clicking on this link: https://ec.europa.eu/food/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en