Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Ljupcho Nikolovski addressed an event Monday on presenting an analysis on finding a legal mechanism to exercise the right to use paid parental leave and sick leave for registered women farmers, news agency MIA reports.
Nikolovski pointed out that Monday’s event was particularly aimed at exercising yet another right of rural women, i.e. the right to use paid parental leave and sick leave.
“This right is intended for all registered farmers. I give strong support, on my behalf and on behalf of the Agriculture Ministry, to finding a legal mechanism and finally, truly protect this category of citizens. These are the people that provide our food. These are the women from rural areas who develop new products, new brands and new value added in the Macedonian economy,” the Minister pointed out, voicing hope that adopted legal solutions will be soon promoted to significantly improve the social and economic status of farmers.
According to Nikolovski, commitments continue for women farmers and all farmers in the country to get the deserved place in society. A new program on rural development is set to be adopted at a government session on Tuesday, which is to increase support to rural women from EUR 3,000 to EUR 6,000, he said, adding that work is also underway on two new programs to support agriculture businesses, which include rural women as well.
“Our cooperation and motivation started in 2018. With the Minister of Labor and Social Policy at the time, Mila Carovska, we signed a declaration for better status of rural women organized by the National Farmers’ Federation, UN Woman and We Effect. Both then and today, we have the same goal – to see rural women respected and strong. A year after the signing the declaration, we already had a call for the “Rural Woman” measure and approved 250 grant agreements of EUR 3,000 each,” Nikolovski mentioned.
He noted that since 2019, when the “Rural Woman” measure began, the number of women farmers has been constantly increasing.
“There were 36,048 women registered in 2019, whereas today there are 38,588, i.e. 22.2 percent of all registered agriculture businesses. This means an increase of 2,540 women who have registered an agriculture business,” said Nikolovski.
The analysis on finding a legal mechanism to exercise the right to use paid parental leave and sick leave for registered women farmers was prepared by the National Farmers’ Federation as part of activities related to gender equality in rural areas, with the support of the Swedish cooperative movements’ development organization We Effect, and in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
Monday’s event on presenting the analysis was also addressed by Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jovanka Trenchevska and President of the National Farmers’ Federation Vaska Mojsovska.
