2023-08-31 06:30:50
agriculture it is one of the most masculinized work environments, second only to construction, transport and the extractive industry. Today, women represent only 25% of the active population in the agricultural and livestock sector. Viticulture belongs to this area. A world that has historically been dominated by men. In recent years, however, more and more women are making their way in the wine industry.
We are still a minority, both in the field and in the wineries and management positions, and they have to fight every day against gender prejudice. Mara Barrena, co-owner and producer of two wineries in Arboç (Alt Penedès) and Carcastillo (Navarre), has been fighting this masculinized view of the wine world for 25 years. «You are constantly questioned if you are a woman. When it comes to giving directions in the field or making yourself visible, you should always be worth twice as much», he recounts in the midst of the harvest.
Being constantly questioned is an experience shared by many of the women consulted for this report. “I learned to drive the tractor at the age of 8. Since I came of age, I have been working in the field professionally. And yet, years later, every time I went to a winery, I had five men watching as I backed up with the tractor, waiting to laugh at me”, says Maria Riba, farmer, wine grower and owner of a farm in Vilobí of the Penedès. “Then, when they see that you know how to drive the tractor better than them, they stop.”
«Women have always worked in the fields, but they were not at the decision-making table. This has fostered the image that the field was a man’s business, and it is not true. We were simply invisible”, adds Barrena. Its namesake agrees: “The world of the countryside is very masculinised. If you are a woman, you must always be proving your worth.”
DO Empordà foresees a harvest with less production but better quality due to the drought
“Women don’t command me”
In addition to value, wineries must demonstrate authority and be respected. Barrena remembers an episode that happened to him when he tried to change the way they cultivated the land, to introduce more ecological techniques. “The other farmers questioned me, they didn’t want to follow my instructions. You try to dialogue but, in the end, until you put yourself in a masculine role of imposition, they don’t pay attention to you».
And it is not an isolated case. «Some farmers refused to work until my husband told them to», explains the owner of a winery in Ullastrell. Both national and foreign workers are often wary of obeying orders given by winegrowers. “Women don’t boss me around,” said one of his newly arrived workers to Cristina, from La Bisbal del Penedès.
Stories captured
These stories and many others are collected in the photo book Conversations on the vine. 50 winegrowers from the Penedès. The author and photographer Maria Rosa Ferré traveled 6,000 kilometers to gather fifty stories. Of all ages, origins and with very different paths, it portrays the women who dedicate themselves to this profession. “I wanted to make the invisible visible, so that they know that they are as important or more important than anyone else, that their work is essential.”
Ferré discovered the hidden side of the countryside while photographing vineyards for a commission. “I would approach women and they would tell me ‘Don’t talk to me, I’m just a support, I’m nobody’, phrases I thought I wouldn’t hear these days.” She herself had experienced situations of masculinity in her work, 50 years ago, and now, so long later, she saw that women were still not valued.
It was these encounters that encouraged her to start the book, but she admits that what she found shattered her plans. “Once I started looking for winegrowers, I met women with a lot of desire and a lot of drive”, he says. Women who accepted the challenge of making visible their day-to-day life in the field. “Maria Rosa’s proposal seemed excellent to give us visibility. No one else had thought of this”, says Riba. “When you think of a farmer, you think of a man, not a woman,” he adds.
Aurora Carafí, one of the youngest oenologists and winegrowers in the book, was surprised by the photographer’s proposal. “At first it shocked me, but it was because I wish there was no need to publicize women, but it turns out there is.” However, he immediately joined in telling his story. “We are very few in a world of men.” She is 26 years old and has been working in the vineyards for ten years: she is a winemaker at the Maria Casanovas winery. “From the age of 16 I received comments like ‘women don’t get on my tractor'”.
Way to go
He recognizes that in the formations, the majority of students were men, but he notices a change. “Fortunately, in the new generations of producers and winegrowers you find less of this discrimination”, he explains.
Riba and Barrena also notice this change, but they say there is still a long way to go. “30 years ago, the mentality that the field was something for men was much more present, but something still remains”, explains Barrena. “Before we even realized it, they all had this masculinized vision, men and women. Now that is changing”, Riba assesses. “We need to normalize women in all areas. It is important to recognize that women have been here, are there and will be there”, he adds. “The only way to move forward is to tell the next generations a different story.”
In addition to giving voice to an invisible part of the field, the book has served to create “a network, a communication, a synergy between the winegrowers”, remarks its author. Now they meet and explain the obstacles they are facing. “Many thought that their problem was unique, and, no, it is the problem of most women”, he adds.
The images of the winegrowers have been a great success and the copies of the first edition of the book (published by Edicions i Propostes Culturals Andana) have been flying. Last March, the exhibition with the photos from the book was inaugurated in Sant Jaume dels Domenys (Baix Penedès). The reception was so good that seven more exhibitions are already scheduled. “I will try to make the images go where they ask for them”, explains the author, “with only one condition, that they be used to hold a debate on women’s agriculture”. The next exhibition is in Sant Pau d’Ordal (Subirants, Alt Penedès), where you can see the day-to-day life of these women and understand, a little more, the reality of the world of vineyards.
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