Summary
The achievements achieved by the women's movement in the past century were made concrete in the Fourth Conference on Women, held in 1995 in Beijing and its Program of Action. One of the national legislative frameworks to support this international platform was the creation of Women's Committees in the entities of the Ministry of Agriculture. The exercise of gender equality, in terms of the possibilities of jobs and salary compensation, is a fact in the country. However, patriarchal roots underlie, and on many occasions it emerges and affects the domestic and working life of women. The meetings of the Women's Committee at the Tobacco Research Institute, meet monthly, and do not constitute a mere fulfillment of the Action Plan. At each meeting national or foreign female figures are treated,according to the ephemeris of the month, which have stood out in history for their patriotism, scientific or literary work or other reasons; Prophylactic and culinary advice is provided for the personal development of women and others, specific to the corporate purpose of the entity. The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have been debated. The meetings are assisted with personal demonstrations and slide presentations, and even musical themes are used. The objective of this work is to share our experience with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.scientific or literary work or other reasons; Prophylactic and culinary advice is provided for the personal development of women and others, specific to the corporate purpose of the entity. The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have been debated. The meetings are assisted with personal demonstrations and slide presentations, and even musical themes are used. The objective of this work is to share our experience with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.scientific or literary work or other reasons; Prophylactic and culinary advice is provided for the personal development of women and others, specific to the corporate purpose of the entity. The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have been debated. The meetings are assisted with personal demonstrations and slide presentations, and even musical themes are used. The objective of this work is to share our experience with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have been debated. The meetings are assisted with personal demonstrations and slide presentations, and even musical themes are used. The objective of this work is to share our experience with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have been debated. The meetings are assisted with personal demonstrations and slide presentations, and even musical themes are used. The objective of this work is to share our experience with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and its leading role in society.a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and its leading role in society.
Abstract
The benefits achieved by the women's movement in the past century, were summarized in the Fourth World Conference on Women celebrated in Beijing in 1995 and it's Action Program. One of the national legislative frameworks to support this international platform was the creation of women's committees in the institutions belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture in Cuba. In our country, the exercise of gender equality in terms of job opportunities and salary is a fact. Yet, 'machismo' is still present and affects women in home and work. Women's Committee meetings at the Tobacco Research Institute take place monthly, and they are not a simple compliance with the Action Plan. At each meeting are mentioned domestic or foreign female figures, which have excelled history for their patriotism, scientific or literary work or another reason.Prophylactic and culinary advices are given and others for women development. It is discussed the genesis of violence against women and its manifestations as well as female sexuality. The meetings are supported with personal demonstrations and data shows. The purpose of this paper is to share our experience with other women, to identify in these meetings learning contexts that help to raise women self-esteem and their role in the society.to identify in these meetings learning contexts that help to raise women self-esteem and their role in the society.to identify in these meetings learning contexts that help to raise women self-esteem and their role in the society.
Introduction
Among the achievements achieved by the women's movement in the past century and which constituted a milestone in history, are the proclamation in 1975 of the International Year of Women and the Decade of Women (1975-1985), events that They culminated in the Fourth Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, and its Program of Action. These events in turn gave rise to successive agreements and conventions, signed by most of the states committed to fighting discrimination against women and promoting equal opportunities (Hernández, 2008: 309).
One of the national legislative frameworks on women's rights to support this international platform was the creation of Women's Committees in the entities of the Ministry of Agriculture in Cuba (MINAG, 2009).
Cuba's active participation and proposals in support of the Beijing platform respond to the tradition of a country that since the triumph of the Revolution has defended the development of women.
Although it is worth citing the legacy left to us by the illustrious Cuban independence activist Ana Betancourt, who, ahead of the time, on April 14, 1869, said: “Citizens:
Here everything was a slave: the cradle, the color and the sex.
You want to destroy the slavery of the cradle by fighting to the death.
You have destroyed the slavery of color by emancipating the servant.
The time has come to free the woman. " (Ecured, 2010)
In today's Cuban society, where economic-political-social canons have changed, women are playing a leading role in the construction of a less unequal and more just society.
In Cuba, the exercise of gender equality in terms of the possibilities of jobs and their remuneration is a fact. Among the important social, cultural, health and human development achievements such as: the decrease in infant mortality, the control of fertility by scientific means, the increase in longevity, access in equal amounts to education in universities to professions previously considered male, acceptance of care by women and men of children and the sick, among others (Álvarez, 2010).The Children's Circles were also created for the integration of women into work and Decree Law No. 234 of 2003 was promulgated, repealing the previous one of 1974 and protecting the worker with the right to receive an economic benefit during her break from her work before and after childbirth, preserving your place and your salary. Since 1963, Law number 1100 protected the right to motherhood of working women.
However, the deep-rooted patriarchal culture -in men and women- underlies, and on many occasions emerges and affects the domestic and working life of women. Álvarez (op.cit) and González (2010: 43) point out that this is manifested in the granted nature of the roles that women and men must play.
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) considers it essential that the forms of government support the efforts of women with information media that echo gender issues (Alberdi, 2010).
The authors of this work soon realized that the meetings of the Women's Committee did not constitute a mere fulfillment of the Plan of Action of the Beijing Conference, but a fundamental socialization space for the growth of women in the institutional context.
The objective of this work is to share our experiences with other women, so that they perceive in this area or similar ones, a learning space that contributes to raising female self-esteem and their leading role in society.
Development
In the changing environment that we have had to live in at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, for an organization to be sustainable it is necessary that its members acquire the skills required to improve their performance; those obtained through learning in the organization itself and mainly with specific or specialized training.
It is no less true that training actions (courses, job training and others) are necessary to create strengths, but the organization not only requires these capacities, it is also necessary to develop an organizational culture that favors commitment to it, the sense of belonging and coherence among its members.
In an organization of these times, it is important to set objectives, establish priorities, assign resources; But you have to work with people, you have to take into account human potential: man and woman.
Labor organizations group people (men and women) for several hours a day to perform specific tasks with the purpose of providing products and services, and in these contexts different groups or subcultures coexist, united by work content, education, customs and language, particular to its members.
Conceptualizing organizations as areas and subjects of learning is a basic notion for managerial work and an imperative to build intelligent organizations (Sutton, 2001). The same author points out that « an organization that learns to learn is one that transfers knowledge to its members, that builds capital that is not only reflected in the results of the company but also in the potential of its members.
Gore and Dunlap (1988) cited by Gore (1996: 23) stated that education is no longer something that happens to one when he is young and it will be necessary to learn to use the educational potential of reality, so that education exceeds the school environments. This is precisely the proposal that has been used in the meetings of the Women's Committee.
Gore (1996: 107) quotes Mackenzie (1972) when he refers to a manager being a person who works with ideas, things and people and according to Henry Mintzberg, the man who discovered how managers really think and act, a world of Organizations must necessarily include the human dimension (Martín de Holan, 2009).
Gender equality is not just a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic implications, and strengthening the development of women gives a boost to flourishing economies, productivity and growth (UN Women, 2011).
At the Institute for Tobacco Research in Cuba, monthly meetings of the Women's Committee are held, which represent a fundamental socialization space for this productive force that, decisively, participates in the construction of society.
According to the ephemeris of the month, national or foreign female figures who have stood out in history for their patriotism, scientific or literary work or other reasons are mentioned; Prophylactic and culinary advice is provided, as well as for the personal development of women and others related to the entity's corporate purpose. The genesis of violence against women and its manifestations, as well as female sexuality, have also been debated. On this last topic González (op. Cit.) Indicates the need for dialogue and reflection, since the great individual and media debates of men are dedicated to war, the economy and other matters.
The meetings are enriched with personal demonstrations or slide presentations, even musical themes are used that are sometimes not received in the same way by the auditorium - remember the different subcultures that make up an organization - but the primary evaluation according to the Kirkpatrick model (http: //www.businessperform.com) (feedback or feedback) occurs, sometimes in the form of spontaneous comments, in the debate, in a deep silence that denotes reflection on the matter discussed or divert attention to other issues…
This last reaction recalls a phenomenon that Austin (2001: 140) warns as 'listening to silence' and that psychotherapists tend to observe in; patients, who generally speak of difficulties that are not of great importance and avoid those that deeply move them.
The trainers-educators consult what has been published on the topics. In no case is it about manipulation, that is, the information is not used to convince, which reminds Freire for this different form of education. Even educators are also the object of dialogic action in each encounter and can modify their knowledge based on debate, on the new elements that arise in them. They also learn as they go.
All educational practice, according to Torres (2007: 75), must recognize what students and educators know about the subject and generate collective and dialogical experiences so that both build new knowledge.
This author (2007: 77) points out that for Paulo Freire, dialogue is not a mere methodological resource or a didactic strategy, but the possibility of constructing ourselves as subjects. Freire (2010) highlights that learning has its reason for being in the unfinished character of human beings. It is in communication, with respect, without discrimination of any kind (race, gender, or economic position) - where by listening, you learn to speak with others and we build ourselves.
It is then, in these encounters, a collective construction of knowledge.
Results
The contents of the meetings of the Women's Committee differ but there is always a common thread: the emancipation of women.
With their successes and failures, the educator-trainers are not pedagogical professionals, only workers who with an entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and a bit of audacity, work as a team to achieve the desired purpose: to raise the self-esteem of women to promote their protagonism in society.
It should be noted that the hidden expectations of the participants are still unknown, which indicates a manifestation of the prejudices inherited from machismo that still underlies our women and does not allow them to request topics to socialize. But little by little it goes from curiosity to expectation and each encounter has become a new challenge.
The training offered does not attempt to develop immediate changes, but rather to propose issues that concern women, at different levels of the organization or subcultures.
The Women's Committee has been successful in raising awareness and training women, but we agree with Arjona (2010: 12) that in order to achieve more equitable relationships between men and women, it is necessary for men to be involved, to work with them gender approach, because until this is done they will not see themselves as participants in the change that is needed.
That is why we trust that these spaces for organizational socialization also include men, since with a greater range of criteria, those of both genders, it will be possible to influence to achieve greater equality between men and women.
In our opinion, the meetings of the Women's Committee can play a significant role in the development of a shared and committed organizational culture and represent an opportunity that a good manager should not miss, since it constitutes a contribution to organizational leadership.
Conclusions
The Women's Committee is a context of socialization in the labor organization, for the learning of working women, thus increasing their self-esteem.
The Women's Committee provides a favorable climate that can be used by managers in favor of their leadership.
recommendations
The experience gained from the meetings of the Women's Committee at the Tobacco Research Institute should be extended to other institutions, scientific or not, as it favors commitment and business cohesion.
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