"A common scenario taking place in many rural communities in the Asia and the Pacific region is that women are leaving and finding jobs in economic zones, urban areas and in the service sector economy. The majority of women who leave the farm behind do not want to return. Many mothers also discourage their daughters from choosing the rural way of life as it is viewed as a hard life with few rewards. Without women there are no agricultural communities. Economics is surely part of the problem that underlies this diaspora, but another factor is the lack of equity and empowerment amongst women in many rural communities." - from "Mainstreaming Gender into National Food Security Policies" by Luz Maria Martinez, Women in Action (3:2000).

In 2002, Isis produced The Story of Food, a ten-minute radio drama on Women and Food Security.

Drama Content: From a productive farm that went bankrupt as the price of sugar fell, Menggay a young mother of two, and husband Enteng tried to go into contract farming of sugarcane. But off-season came and many families have starved so Menggay migrates to the city to work as cook and helper of a middle class family. The drama starts with Menggay, saying goodbye to her family over dinner, making light of the situation for her kids' sake. The kids do not understand and ask: - why does mother have to go, what is happening to their farm, who will take care of them?

This CD was produced for non-profit purposes by the Media, Information and Communication Services Programme, Isis International-Manila with the support of Communications Assistance Foundation (CAF) based in The Netherlands.

Written and Directed by Pinky Serafica. Voiced by Ayrl Faust Arellano, Mavic Cabrera-Balleza, Baby Cacdac, Tatin Colobong, Cherry Cruz, Josine Las Dulce, Yuri Domingo, Windell Lacson, Marie Marciano, with Technical Support from Froilan Malimban.

Available in English and Filipino and eventually translated in Tamil, Nepali, and Kyrgyz. Should you have time  to translate these stories in another language please do send us a copy so that we can make it available in this site.

Isis International-Manila
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E-mail: communications at isiswomen.org