Santiago Rodríguez Pérez Joins Seminar on Rural Women's Employment and Depopulation
On June 25 and 26, 2024, Santiago Rodríguez Pérez (researcher at the University of Oviedo in the EsArt group and member of the Culturality team) participated in the seminar “The lack of job opportunities for women in the rural world as a key element of depopulation”, organized jointly by the Unión Sindical Obrera (USO) and MCL-EFAL (Italy), within the framework of the international training Europäische Zentrum für Arbeitnehmerfragen (EZA).
The meeting focused on analyzing the current problems of the rural world and the female role in the development of these areas, the current situation and future challenges. The social context of the rural environment and existing gender problems were analyzed, such as female migration to urban areas, wage imbalances, temporality and precariousness, or their role in domestic tasks and care. The discussion also focused on the problems of depopulation, as well as the future possibilities for these areas and the central role played by women in development policies.
Santiago Rodríguez participated in the round table on June 26, together with Carmen Quintanilla (president of Afammer), Emanuela Dragonetti (president of MCL in Potenza) and Gabriel Garnelo (general secretary of USO-Industria in Castilla y León and of USO-Ponferrada). In his speech, he made an assessment of the historical evolution of the Asturian rural environment in its transition from the traditional world to modernity, the problems of the agricultural sector, as well as the situation of cultural heritage in these areas, and how cultural and intangible heritage can contribute to the creation of female employment in remote areas, through the recovery of traditional knowledge. Emphasis was also placed on the need for sustainable tourist flows, the revaluation of traditional and quality agroecological productions, and the protection of cultural heritage. The intervention had a certain impact, and future seminars were scheduled for the celebration.
