MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
MARINA LOPES/THE WASHINGTON POSTBY MARINA LOPESsao paulo, brazil — The endless
fields of soy and corn outside Nor-
ma Gatto’s window sent her into a
panic. Harvest was coming, and
her husband was dead, killed in a
work dispute with a farmhand.
Gatto, who grew up around ag-
riculture but had never planted
anything herself, was left to raise
her three boys and manage their
burgeoning farm in Brazil’s heart-
land on her own.
I’m doomed, she thought.
“It was the worst moment of my
life,” she says. “I had to be Mom
and Dad, help heal my children’s
pain, and do something I had nev-
er done before — [farm]work.”
Two decades later, Gatto, 60, is
one of Brazil’s most powerful fe-
male farmers, managing 44,
acres of soy, corn, beans and cattle.
For years she was the only female
farmer in southern Mato Grosso
state, Brazil’s soy country. Now,
she speaks to thousands of women
hoping to break into the country’s
$300 billion, male-dominated ag-
ricultural industry.
Brazil is a global agricultural
powerhouse, the world’s top pro-
ducer of soy, coffee, beef and or-
anges. But its traditionally ma-
chista culture has long kept wom-
en out of the industry.
That’s starting to change. A rec-
ord 31 percent of farms in Brazil
are managed by women today, tri-
ple the number in 2013, according
to Brazil’s Agribusiness Associa-
tion.
Female farmers say they still
have a tougher time than their
male competitors accessing train-
ing and credit, and they suffer
high rates of violence and discrim-
ination. Now, they’re banding to-
gether to try to bridge the gap.
Known as Brazil’s “cattle
queens,” they gather once a year to
discuss various subjects: work-
place harassment, technological
advances, macroeconomic policy.
The meeting has grown from a few
hundred women in 2016 to a sold-
out event of 2,000 this month at a
Sao Paulo conference center spon-
sored by major agricultural com-
panies.
Surrounded by pink tractors
and orchids, they attended lec-
tures on the impact of the U.S.-Chi-
na trade war on soy prices, and
sustainability in agriculture.
Kelly Andrade, a 38-year-old
grain farmer from Minas Gerais
state, says she came to be inspired
by women who have succeeded in
a man’s world.
“It can sometimes be isolating to
work in your corner of Brazil and
you don’t know what is happening
in the rest of the country,” she says.
“It is great to exchange informa-
tion, learn what other women are
trying in their farms, what is work-
ing and not working for them.”
When Andrade first started
working on her father’s farms, she
says, banks would call him to
check whether she had his permis-
sion to secure loans.
Such experiences are not un-
common. Corteva, an American
agricultural company, surveyed
female farmers around the world
last year. Nearly 80 percent of
Brazilian women reported having
experienced discrimination, com-
pared with 52 percent of their
American counterparts.
“You have to learn to deal with
discrimination, to be respected
and have a voice,” Andrade said.
Women from conservative ar-
eas of the country say the meeting
was the first time they have been
able to put the discrimination into
words. Rosemeire Santos, 47, a
Corteva executive in Brasilia,
launched a year-long training pro-
gram in 2018 on entrepreneurship
and female empowerment for 20
up-and-coming farmers. At first,
she says, none of the women ad-
mitted to having suffered discrim-
ination. But by the end of the
course, several did.
“Women are not ready to talk
about discrimination in agribusi-
ness,” she says. “They are used to
seeing their situation as standard.”
As the number of women in the
industry grow, they also face grow-
ing rates of violence. Last year, 482
women were victims of violence in
rural conflicts in Brazil, four times
the number in 2017.
Lawyer Ticiane Figueiredo is
the author of “Agro Women,” a
book on female farmers in Brazil.
“When you are demanding gen-
der equality in what has tradition-
ally been a masculine space, men
get threatened and think that we
are trying to destroy them. But
they need to support that effort,”
she says. “Since men are still the
ones in a position of power, if theydon’t let us in, we won’t break the
glass ceiling.”
Conference regulars say it has
given them a community they can
rely on all year. They stay connect-
ed through group texts and
emails, where they share legal ad-
vice, information about prices and
new farming technology. When
times are tough or crops are not
performing as expected, they offer
each other emotional support.
Kiara Motter, a 31-year-old from
northern Brazil, went looking foran extra push of encouragement
as she prepares to take over her
family’s grain farm.
“I’m not a huge fan of these
events just for women, but it’s a
challenge: I’m the only woman at
most of the meetings I attend,” she
says. “Here, we don’t feel so alone.”
[email protected]Brazilian farm managers see cracks in glass ceiling
Women run nearly
one-third of country’s
agricultural operations“It is great to exchange
information, learn what
other women are trying
in their farms, what is
working and not
working for them.”
Kelly Andrade,
38-year-old grain farmer
from Minas Gerais stateA pink tractor is a backdrop for
photos at a meeting of Brazil’s
female farmers. Nearly a third of
farms are managed by women.Special ends on
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