Gayo Women as Pillars of Family and Community Food Security |
Early in the morning, Gayo women wake up and start getting ready to go to the fields. However, before that, they have to prepare breakfast, take care of children who are going to school, clean the house, and complete various other domestic tasks that are not replaced by men. After all the household chores are done, then their role in family food security—and also their community—begins.
In the midst of the still dim sunlight combined with the cold air, the women start to move to the fields. They bring various agricultural tools that are appropriate to their role in the fields. If they want to pick coffee, for example, of course what they bring are branch shears and containers to store the harvest.
In the history of mankind, no society has been able to meet food needs without the role of women. Women occupy a role that goes beyond being food processors. They are the ones who actively fight for the availability of food for their families and communities, without negating their position as food processors. To this day, we can still find women who do this; they go to the fields, offices, or streets to get food, then return home to process it into food that is suitable for the family.
With domestic duties and work in coffee plantations, Gayo women can be called food heroes for their families. Together with men, they go to the fields to ensure that their food crops are in good condition until harvest time. It cannot be denied that agriculture in Gayo was built because of the large role of women in it.
In daily farming practices, they become field cleaners and coffee pickers during the harvest. All of this has been done by Gayo women before the era of Indonesian independence, and will continue to happen in the future.
If we explore the coffee plantations in Central Aceh and Bener Meriah, we will see women among rows of mini coffee trees that are only about 2-3 meters high so that they can harvest easily. With their heads covered in cloth, Gayo women's hands are so agile in picking ripe coffee beans.
Most women farm coffee. Of course, coffee is not a staple food. It cannot replace the culture of eating rice. But the coffee harvest is what allows their families to earn income to meet their family's food needs; they can buy rice, fish, meat, and vegetables that are not grown in their own fields. In this context, Gayo women play a big role in fulfilling family food needs through the use of plantation products.[]
