Director: Annemie Maes
Duration: 00:08:44; Aspect Ratio: 1.738:1; Hue: 22.709; Saturation: 0.304; Lightness: 0.351; Volume: 0.231; Cuts per Minute: 12.707; Words per Minute: 22.781
Summary: Eco-feminists want to redefine how societies look at productivity and activity of both women and nature. 'Diverse women for diversity' promotes a global women's campaign on bio-diversity and cultural diversity, echoing women's voices from the local and grassroots level to global fora and international negotiations.
In Tilonia, a small village in the Rajasthani desert, a group of illiterate women started a cooperative to build solar cookers. Out of recycled materials, they construct little by little huge parabolic devices that work with the energy of the sun. The use of technologies such as solar energy empowers women to stay 'off the grid', a statement that symbolises their independence from dominant structures.
The women work with appropriate technology that is tailor made for their specific community and takes into consideration the environmental, cultural, social and economic characteristics of that community. This technology requires fewer resources and is easier to maintain. It has a lower overall cost and a smaller impact on the environment than high technology, and it prefers labor-intensive solutions over capital-intensive ones.
The women workers organise themselves and explore the assets of nature and distributed green power. As working women, they claim their rights in the community and work towards a radical shift in policy and practice.
Barefoot College
Eco-feminists want to redefine how societies look at productivity and activity of both women and nature.
'Diverse women for diversity' promote a global women's campaign on biodiversity and cultural diversity, echoing women's voices from
the local and grassroots' level to global fora and international negotiations.
In Tilonia, a small village in the Rajasthani desert, a group of illiterate women started a cooperative to build solar cookers.
Out of recycled materials they construct little by little huge parabolic devices that work with the energy of the sun.
The use of technologies such as solar energy empowers women to stay 'off the grid', a statement that symbolizes their independence from dominant structures.
The women work with appropriate technology that is tailor made for their
specific community; and with attention for the environmental, cultural,
social and economic characteristics of that community.
This technology requires fewer resources and is easier to maintain.
It has a lower overall cost and a smaller impact on the environment
than high technology, and it prefers labor-intensive solutions over capital-intensive ones.
The women workers organize themselves and explore the assets of nature and distributed green power.
As working women they claim their rights in the community and work towards a radical shift in policy and practice.
Rajasthan
Tilonia
appropriate technology
networks
self supporting
solar cookers
women empowerment
In their smithy, which is centrally located on the Barefoot College campus, Shamma, Sita, Shehenaj, Kamla and Norti built huge solar cookers. The smithy became their second home. They exchange stories and experiences with villagers and other Barefoot residents. They raise their kids, cook and have fun.
They invited me to spend some time with them, and assist in building a solar cooker from scratch. Out of recycled bicycle parts, they weld the structure for the cookers. They cover them precisely with small mirrors that are cut to make the parabolic shape. They construct counterweights out of old oil cans filled with concrete. They are guided by the blueprints from the German engineer Schaeffer who designed the cookers. The women adapt this design to their own practical experiences. To some cookers, a solar tracking system is added. Other cookers are made to work in a more ergonomic way and fulfill daily cooking needs.
During their work, the women sing self-composed songs. Sita is the lead singer, and she wrote the lyrics : "I'm a solar cooker mecano ..."
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