Empowering Women, Gender Roles, and Climate Change - An interview with Immaculata Casimero

Indigenous women have always been at the forefront of defending the land. As Wapichan women, we are the transmitters of traditional knowledge, the stories, the cultural dances, the traditional foods; it’s all passed on by women.

We also teach our language to our children, because language connects us to the land, and to our people. It’s through our language that we know our history, the names of the mountains, the rivers, the fish, the birds, the medicinal plants and wildlife. There are many ways to protect our land. It isn’t just standing up and speaking, but also by the passing down of traditional knowledge to our children and the younger generation. That’s how indigenous women defend their lands.

However, we know that women face all forms of discrimination and violations of their rights. Over the years, nothing much has been done to promote the protection of women and girls. That’s something we really wanted to change.

Empowering Wapichan Women

We realized that the women in our communities didn’t have access to information on their rights. So, when they face discrimination or are affected by social issues, they have no one to turn to or they don't know what to do.

That’s the reason we formed the Wapichan Wiizi Women’s Movement in February 2020. WWWM empowers women across Wapichan Territory by providing information and training on human rights, women rights, the right to justice and leadership skills. Our workshops are spaces where women can share their experiences and feel free to talk. You know, when women come together, they trust each other more and can speak more freely among themselves.

The aim of our workshops is to empower women and girls across the territory, to equip them with leadership skills and to build their capacities. This way, they can take up leadership positions and have a voice when decisions are made at a community level – and if they’re chosen, they can represent regionally and even internationally.

 

"It’s not easy for women to take up leadership positions though, as they have always been dominated by men."

 

I know that Wapichan women play very important roles in the development of their communities, however this wasn’t visible. They would support their partners, their husbands. Even when it was the men who were leaders, the women would give advice and support to ensure that they completed their tenure.

Because women have been playing this invisible role, they find it harder to step up as leaders. You might have all the information, but you also need to have the self-confidence, you need to be trained, you need to know how to speak, so you can get out there. Without this training, it’s much harder.

These are some of the activities we have involved women in, and we are seeing the results. In 2021, twelve women contested to be Toshao (village leaders) which is very historical, to contest against the men. Although they may not have won the elections, they still stepped up to contest. And we now have five women deputy Toshaos!

We have also seen more young women across Wapichan territory taking up leadership positions in their communities. They’re visible, and they’re active in their communities, and they now have a voice. That has made me feel proud and it shows that the work of the Wapichan Women's Wiizi Movement is having an impact.

Gender roles and including the whole community

One of the unexpected results of the workshops was the involvement of men. In 13 of the 21 communities we visited, men showed up to attend the workshops, and we couldn’t chase them or send them away, even though it's supposed to be a women’s space. The men who attended were Toshaos and Village Councillors and men who were interested in what the women were doing. They didn't dominate the space, but listened and only spoke at the end of the workshops.

In fact, it highlighted gender roles for both men and women. The men who attended said to us ‘We’re happy that you’re here – but we feel guilty as men.’ It’s good to know that men acknowledge this,  and those who attended had promised to change their ways. They also made recommendations for the workshops to be extended to men in the communities.

Men are realizing the important roles that women play in our communities.

 

"One man said ‘I'd be sitting or rocking in my hammock, while my wife is busy cooking and looking after the children, and I would still be rocking or sitting. I didn’t know that I had to help her, because I was taught from a young age that I didn’t have to help my wife – she had to do everything.'"

 

We also looked at the different issues that affect our communities – what do we think are the main issues, why is it happening and what can we do to solve them? We saw that men had their own ideas, and women had different views, ideas and recommendations. The sessions went really well! It’s useful for men as well, as it’s the first time they’ve ever had a workshop like this.

We also involved teenagers – boys and girls – as well, talking about gender roles, children’s rights and reproductive rights.

People are now aware of their rights like never before – their human rights, rights to justice, and what they can do if their rights are violated. Many participants have never heard of international laws or the Constitution of Guyana before, but we were able to share this via PowerPoint presentations with them. Now that they're aware of their rights, they can use the law and better stand to represent themselves and their communities. 

 

"Something important that we’ve been able to do is bring these messages to the communities in their own language. I am speaking to you in English, but at the workshops I speak in my own language – Wapichan."

 

The participants in the communities said that people would come to do trainings with them from other organizations and would often speak in English and this is totally different from us. They would use big words, which we don’t understand and we don’t feel comfortable asking questions. Because of that, people don’t really get the concepts across, and Wapichan people don't understand what is being said. They told me that they can better understand and that they learnt and understand more because I would explain it to them in the Wapichan language.

Climate change and the Wapichan community

In the workshops, we also talk about climate change, how it affects the farms, food security, the waters etc… we discussed the mining that is happening in our territory, and how it contributes towards the climate change crisis. Climate change is affecting everyone, our ecosystems, wildlife, and that land we use to grow crops.

Because of climate change we have lost crops. This threatens our food security and it’s women and children who face these challenges the most. The men are there, but sometimes they do not worry about the children in the same way their mothers would. Some men who go to work in the gold mines would leave the children with their mothers, so it's women who feel that burden more. Sometimes, the women have to leave the children at home to go to the farm to get food to feed them.

 

"We as Indigenous people now have to try to adapt to climate change because we don’t know what’s happening. We have our traditional knowledge of the weather patterns, but, due to climate change, it isn’t like that anymore. This makes it much harder for us to adapt."

 

At COP26, I learnt about the work of other indigenous peoples and what they're doing to mitigate the climate change crisis. I remember in my community we have spoken about new ways of farming, and how to strengthen our food security. We need to start having our own chicken farms, so we don’t have to be dependent on food from outside our communities.

Indigenous people are working, wherever they're located, they're protecting biodiversity, forests, they're protecting their lands, and by doing this they're protecting Mother Earth.

 

"We can mitigate climate change, however indigenous peoples cannot do it alone, because we are continuously fighting these big companies, these extractivists, just to keep our lands."

 

From local to international

I attended COP26 in Glasgow last year, and there were so many emotional moments. Attending the Indigenous Caucus was the first time I’ve seen indigenous men and women come together from all corners of the globe to share their struggles, experiences and knowledge.

One thing I've realized that across the world, we all have similar issues, and we all want the same things – we want to have legal ownership of our lands, and we need our rights to be respected so that we can continue to use the land in a sustainable way as our forefathers have.

 

"I was also impressed by the participation of women, like Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Joan Carling, Lucy Mulenkei, Jing Corpuz and many others…I felt really inspired by them. I told the women in my community ‘They’re small women – short, like us – but very vocal, and there’s so much passion when they speak.’"

 

I'll always remember hearing real testimonies of what other women go through in other countries – being harassed, criminalized, kidnapped or murdered for defending their land. It was really heartbreaking for me, and I shed tears as I listened to them tell their stories. I took videos, and I said I'll have to show my women this because maybe one day, this is what will happen to us.

There is so much happening that we are not aware of as indigenous peoples, especially those who are on the ground, Wapichan people. We do not know what decisions are being made about our lands by our governments at the global level. Take for example, the talks about carbon markets, carbon credits etc. What do we know about it?  We are the ones who have been protecting these lands, but decisions are being made by our government without consulting us. And the same government is investing in oil, giving mining concessions on our land without our Free Prior and Informed Consent.

So, I’ve been trying to tell women what is happening on the global level. I've informed them about the Paris Agreement, particularly Article 6 – Indigenous peoples and human rights. Some of them have never heard of the Paris Agreement. I’m happy that I can share all that I've learned with my communities, because these are issues that directly affect us.

Indigenous voices at COP26

Indigenous people were at the forefront of COP26 and that they have made progress in different spaces, from grassroots to the national level. We’ve gained some good audiences. But how well do people listen?

We have participated in many marches, protests, and attended various forums, but how do we actually get people to listen, to change their way of thinking, change the way they do things, especially those large industries, governments?

In the cities or what we call developed countries, if a person wants to feel hot, or feel cool, they can just press a button, it's easy as that, and no one wants to give up those comforts. Humanity has become so disconnected from nature that they don’t feel the consequences of their actions, in the same way as we do, as indigenous peoples on the ground.

Instead of listening to us, our government has become worse. Immediately after we returned from COP26, the Guyanese government signed an agreement to reopen mining in Marudi without the effective and meaningful participation of the Wapichan people.

 

"That for me was total disrespect to us as a people. I felt defeated. I told my mother ‘I wish I had a magic wand to be able to change the hearts of these people.’"

 

And, even if no one listens, Indigenous peoples continue to work and try to bring about change on the global stage – we want governments to really recognize and respect us as people. There is work to be done to get people to understand that indigenous peoples are the reason mother earth has green spaces. We are still using the land sustainably while others are not.

I keep advising community leaders that when governmental leaders come to our communities, we must ask them what is happening to our lands– ‘You see what is happening in our community? You see the discrimination we face as indigenous peoples?’ They must use these spaces to speak on their people’s behalf. And if the men cannot do it, well then the women will do it.

Before COP, I had read so much about the work of Lucy Mulenkei, from IIFB, Joan Carling, Vicky Tauli Corpuz etc, and to actually meet them and hear them speak left an impression which I'll remember for the rest of my life.

 

"These little women are great, powerful women, they are representing and speaking at a global level. This really empowered me, motivated me, and made me feel inspired to continue the work that I’m doing."