Conferentie stelt de rol van vrouwen in duurzame plattelandsontwikkeling centraal (en)

All citizens require "equal opportunities, obligations and rights" "regardless of where they live or any other personal circumstances", in order to ensure the success of regional development in rural areas, "where women and young people are priority groups", Spain's Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa, said on Wednesday.

Espinosa was bringing the European forum "Women in Sustainable Rural Development", held in Cáceres, to a close. The minister said this meeting had helped to "increase recognition of the role of women" in the rural world and to "come up with the legal and technical instruments" needed to encourage gender equality.

She also said that working towards equality for women is one of the central objectives of the Spanish Presidency of the EU and that two crucial questions for Europe had been tackled at this forum: the construction of territorial cohesion policies and the setting up of new participatory governance systems in rural areas.

The minister said this event had not only studied future proposals regarding equality and rural women but had "aimed to put the gender perspective and equality into context", since "it is impossible to talk about rural development without considering the sustainability of the region and, by extension, the sustainability of the local society", a collective challenge "that involves the joint action and support of the society as a whole and the democratic institutions that represent it".

The European forum "Women in Sustainable Rural Development", which was held in Cáceres on Tuesday and Wednesday, was one of the scheduled activities taking place during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.