Selecting respondents

I had not really given thought to the actual breakdown respondents to be interviewed until I worked through the different types of women I wished to capture in this study. It is a very complex situation as there are:- 

1.     Women who are members in the cooperatives. This is the tricky part because my research is about women workers in oil palm plantations but in the case of cooperatives, women collectively own the plantation. They make up part of the general assembly which dictates the running of the plantation. They own the capital collectively and  make decisions collectively. The distinction is great between cooperatives and multi-national corporations. Cooperatives do not have huge amounts capital and resources at their disposal. Alternatively, I can expand the idea of women's involvement in the industry to include cooperative membership of women. This model is more empowering where women are given larger roles and not merely exploited for labour. 

2.       Women employed by cooperative. They are not members of the cooperative but they do enjoy benefits from social aid provided by the cooperative.

3.    Women members of the cooperative who hold position in committees. They are also called officers for they are office bearers in terms of their membership in the various committees. These positions are not appointed but elected. The women actually compete in an election process. However there's the all mighty Board of Directors (BOD) level which is still out of the reach of women. There is significant resistance from women against running for the BOD positions. 

4.     Women members who are staffers. This practice is actually discouraged by the Cooperative Development Authority.  However, this practice still takes place in MAPARBEMPCO but not in KARBEMPCO. 

5.        Women who are staff. These are women who have been hired due to their expertise/educational level/ relationship to co-op members/ experience in running the management of the plantation, like Genevive Bajala of MAPARBEMPCO. 

Though both cooperatives have different qualifying factors in the memberships; membership in MAPARBEMPCO was due to landownership of the community in Barangay Mapantig. Membership in KARBEMPCO was due to the employment of members in the previous company where the middle management and labourers formed a union which was covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) during Aquino's era.

Unfortunately in  both cases, women were left out. The participation of women in this process was limited. This was dues to two main factors:-

i. Women are not usually employed in oil palm plantation because it requires hard labour, and therefore relegated to men. Women are usually employed as loose fruit pickers. This is probably the lowest waged labour in the plantation but it is back breaking work nonetheless. There are about 40 odd women employed in both Kenram - MAPARBEMPCO and Kenram - KARBEMPCO. Women who are also employed as staff at the management level. The highest position in management is held by Gen Bajala of MAPARBEMPCO. She was appointed to the position 3 years ago. She is the first female and non-member general manager ever to be employed in Kenram-MAPARBEMPCO.

ii. Women were not recognized as heads of households. Many men benefited from CARP in Mapantig. Many women only inherited the membership from deceased partners/spouses. At present there are only 46 women out of 300 members in MAPARBEMCO. It is clear they do not make up the critical number to bring about any meaningful impact in terms of women led initiatives. In terms of membership in KARBEMPCO only workers (management staff and labourers) were organized in a co-op which eventually gained the ownership of the land. At present, only 110 women make up the membership of the KARBEMPCO which stands at 410 in total.

Nevertheless, the CARP programme and co-op model of ownership bodes well for women in the long run if their positions and capacities can be strengthened. Some of the ways this can be done is through policy and law reform:-

i.    Making 30 % membership of women in all co-ops mandatory
ii.   Ensuring co-op members are exposed to gender-sensitization programmes to address conservative
     cultural practices which inhibit women's participation  in co-ops
iii.  Empower women to take on positions of leadership within co-ops. Develop specific programmes to 
     build  the capacity of women and raise their awareness.
iv. Ensure and guarantee the benefits of the CARP for women as a means to eradicate rural    
    poverty that predominantly affects women.

Household Respondents Breakdown

Criteria	MAPARBEMPCO	KARBEMPCO
Members	5	5
Workers (loose fruit pickers & non co-cop members)	10	10
Members (Elected to committees)	8	8
Staff	2	2