The development of women in a rural environment
Real possibilities of working in the villages of our region.
This is one of the challenges facing the Mancomunidad de Municipios del Valle del Almanzora, which covers the vast majority of towns in the area, by carrying out various training activities.
«We intend that through training, the women of the region, especially those who have not had the opportunity to study for various reasons, can make a niche in the labour market,» says Antonio Ramón Salas, president of the supra-municipal body, who encourages women to «undertake».
Entrepreneurship is one of the key words when trying to enter the labour market. «There is a greater success of female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs», said Jaime Pablo Valenciano, Professor of Economics and Business at the University of Almeria, at the closing ceremony of the «Rural Women in the Almanzora Valley» project, who stressed the need to «move from the local to the global», in a universal market whose access today is provided by new technologies.
In the diagnosis carried out, the UAL professor said that municipalities have been detected that have «idle» facilities, which could be reconverted, for example, into rural accommodation.
It is true that some town councils or the Andalusian Regional Government also have their own empty warehouses in run-down industrial estates. As for the private sector, for example, there are also bars that often close due to the retirement of their owners, but do not reopen their doors. And that is saying a lot in this region; there are localities such as Armuña del Almanzora that do not have a bar in the centre of the village, which is where the inhabitants, mostly older people, socialise.
Villages with older people is another of the common characteristics. And this is also where the opportunities arise, because who takes care of these elderly people who want to live at home, asks Juan Manuel Reche Fernández, administrator of the group that bears his surname, owner of several of the residences in the province.
«In our companies, 93% of our workers are women. The work of women in social care services is of vital importance. Joining forces, forming companies or cooperatives to manage this need is a priority and a way of generating employment. There are elderly people who have cataract or hip operations, but then go home and have no one to put drops in their eyes. This is basic. There is a need for people to accompany our elderly to do paperwork, to the doctor, to look after them in hospital. There is a lack of people in the sector who are trained and can offer a service that is very necessary. Older people don’t want to go to a nursing home, they want to be at home where they have lived all their lives. There are villages in other places where the problem is the same, which are already considering becoming a village-residence, where they don’t have to move to live in an unknown place, but can be properly cared for at home».