Fatima holds onto the olive tree branches to balance herself on the ladder so that she can start harvesting olives with a comb-like tool. Olives fall with a rhythmic sound on the carpet placed under the tree.
The old woman climbs her tired feet higher up on the ladder to reach the distant branches, avoiding the eyes of the estate owner, who stands below and watches her with his hands in his pockets.
Kairouan is a large contributor to Tunis’s olive production and export to EU countries, worth about USD 1 million last year.
Fatima holds onto the olive tree branches to balance herself on the ladder so that she can start harvesting olives with a comb-like tool. Olives fall with a rhythmic sound on the carpet placed under the tree.
The old woman climbs her tired feet higher up on the ladder to reach the distant branches, avoiding the eyes of the estate owner, who stands below and watches her with his hands in his pockets.
Kairouan is a large contributor to Tunis’s olive production and export to EU countries, worth about USD 1 million last year.
Tunisia ranks second in olive production worldwide after Spain— with a total production of about 270,000 tonnes a year. Most of the production is exported to European markets, like France and Italy.
Sweat and toil
Harvesting one olive tree requires hours of strenuous work, which Fatima, who lives with her four unemployed children, endures to secure a decent living for her family, since her unemployed husband died a few years ago.
After long hours of reaching for olives, Fatima fills the olives into bags and takes them to the press. She returns to harvest the other trees, spending her whole day on the ladder.
Fatima has only one short break, where she sips tea with five other women co-workers on the same field, trying to forget the long day’s suffering and recharging themselves with energy. Sometimes, they rejoice the advent of a rich harvest season by singing joyful traditional songs.
At lunchtime, the women rest and exchange talk about their daily experiences, while dipping the round loaves of semolina bread in the oil.
Family supporters
Farm work has drawn wrinkles on the faces of these women. They were longing for a better life, but the death of a husband or the chronic unemployment of their children, have further aggravated their suffering.
“I am working to provide food for my children and pay the electricity and water bills,” says Fatima who earns 10 dinars (USD 5) per day for olive harvesting, which she receives at the end of the day and heads to the market to buy some items, while her children wait impatiently for her to prepare their food and give them some pocket money.
“My children have looked for jobs in vain. Job opportunities here are almost nonexistent, and the children refuse to work with me in the olive farms because it pays too little,” she adds.
After spending nearly ten hours harvesting olives, Fatima returns home to cook and start the daily washing. She goes to bed early – there is no time to watch TV.
Her coworker Jameela has more or less the same daily routine. She goes to bed early so that she can wake up at dawn and continue her farm work to support her poor family, despite her old age and frail body.
Her past experience in olive harvesting has helped her maintain her present job, despite her slow performance. The employer has allowed her to work so that she can provide food for the family and support her handicapped daughter amid the deteriorating living conditions.
At the end of the day, the employer carries the bags of olives collected by the women to the press to extract pure olive oil, whose price ranges between DT 8 and 10 (USD 4-5) per liter, most of which is exported abroad.
Despite the good revenues, he says, the profits are “very limited” due to the rising production cost. He explains that he cannot raise the women workers’ pay because of the declining olive oil revenues and high production cost.
Too little pay for men
Each harvest season, this man prefers to employ women because they accept lower pay than the men who refuse to work for the little money he offers. “They prefer to sit in the cafés and play cards,” he says.
65 percent of rural women are employed in agriculture, according to Mouldi al-Ramadani, the head of regional union for agriculture and marine fishing in Kairouan. He says that agricultural activity “is basically dependent on women.”
Fatima attributes women’s acceptance of the low-wage to the tough living conditions and unaffordable expenses. She indicates that some rural men “refuse to work in the farms and rely on their wives’ income.”
Women’s work in agriculture is usually classified by human rights and social organisations as vulnerable jobs. They are deprived of social security or retirement privileges. Their work is also not subject to government inspection.
According to a study conducted by the Democratic Women Society (a rights organisation) 60 percent of females are engaged in seasonal work, while 28 per cent of them have permanent jobs. 78 per cent of seasonal female workers are involved in difficult jobs, like olive harvesting.
Safety problems
Due to men’s reluctance to work in olive fields, farmers face many difficulties in olive harvesting. Although they cover the labour shortage through recruiting women, they don’t afford them appropriate working conditions.
Difficulties facing women farmers in rural areas include the need for safe and comfortable working environments, including proper pick-up and drop-off service. Instead, they are often transported on the back of small trucks in dangerous conditions.
A number of fatal traffic accidents have happened over the past years. Many women were killed on their way to the olive fields. The security campaigns failed to tackle this problem and prevent such fatal mishaps.
Speaking about the conditions of women farmers, the provincial women, family and children representative in Kairouan, Anisa al-Suaidi says that “economic exploitation and poor employment conditions of women are considered a form of violence against women.”
“Women farmers are exposed to violations including the wages gap and unsafe transportation,” explains Anisa. She believes that the solution lies in urging farm owners to ensure proper and safe transportation, in addition to sensitizing the husbands to having their share of the family burdens.
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