**5. Implications of Results**

The results show progress in women's empowerment in the food-handling sector in the province of Almería. This has resulted in an increasing number of women in positions of responsibility within fruit and vegetable companies in Almería. However, the level of empowerment is lower when involving the women who occupy positions of responsibility [30]. Historically, the fruit and vegetable sector of Almería has been governed and managed by men, in the greenhouse-farming subsector as well as in other types of business. For example, although women work within greenhouses, the majority of these businesses are owned by men. A similar situation exists within marketing companies, where, traditionally, men have held the majority of technical, executive, and management positions, as well as serving on the board of directors. Despite this, compared to the previous period studied, this subsector can be considered to have initiated a process of feminisation [6].

Within this feminisation process, the improvement in the level of satisfaction experienced by women is relevant. It is linked to the decrease in the number of workplace accidents due to the strict application of the law regarding the prevention of occupational hazards, which has resulted in an improvement in the conditions of the workplace, the use of machinery and vehicles, and the physical and psychological characteristics of the workers (ergonomics) [31–33].

These results are in line with the situation in other countries within the European Union, which brings to light the feminine supremacy in the processing sector. Back in 2013, according to research by the European Parliament [34], in countries such as Bulgaria, France, Poland, and Lithuania, there was a greater percentage of women than men in the processing sector.

The fruit and vegetable sector has not been affected by the economic-financial crisis of 2007 [35,36] nor by the Covid-19 pandemic [37,38]. Fruit and vegetables are considered necessities and are in demand despite adversities. According to the OECD and FAO, "because food is a basic necessity, the agriculture sector is showing more resilience to

the global economic crisis than other industries." Moreover, this has meant that women working within the sector have not lost their jobs, unlike other feminised sectors such as the hotel-chambermaid sector [39,40]. Furthermore, the role of trade unions as representatives advocating for working women is fundamental [41–43].

Despite this, there is still much progress to be made to consolidate women's empowerment in all sectors and socio-economic areas [44]. First, this study has considered the role of women in the workplace from an employee perspective. However, the degree of empowerment is lower when women's entrepreneurial activities are taken into account [45]. Furthermore, as mentioned in the introduction, this low level of empowerment is accentuated in the rural environment.

The situation for women in rural areas is characterised by aspects such as the feminisation of the rural exodus, social pressure, and the sexual division of labour, which speaks of a double-discrimination phenomenon: discrimination for being a woman and for living in a rural environment. Issues related to women's empowerment, gender, family, and work-life balance are incorporated into public policies [46]. In the case of Spain, action plans such as the Rural Modernisation and Diversification Strategy or the Strategic Plan for Equal Opportunities have been implemented [27]. All of this is in line with the European Union's guidelines in relation to women in the rural world [47].

## **6. Conclusions**

This study has analysed the evolution of the role of women workers in the fruit- and vegetable-handling sector to ascertain whether the progress in women's empowerment has been consolidated in recent years.

The vegetable sector in Almería is critical to both Spain and the rest of Europe and is fundamentally based on two types of companies, *alhóndigas* and social enterprises. Furthermore, most of the workers in the food-handling departments are women, which means it can be considered a feminised sector. Most of them are Spanish nationals, and there are many fixed-discontinuous employment contracts. During the agricultural season, they work, while, in the summer months, they are unemployed and receive unemployment benefits, which helps them balance their work and family life during the summer months when their children are on vacation. Thus, they receive an income every month of the year.

Concerning women workers' satisfaction in the workplace, differences can be seen before and after 2014. While in the period 2000–2014 women expressed greater satisfaction with male supervisors, there is a change of opinion in the period 2015–2019. This is evidence of greater empowerment of women workers who are no longer afraid to express more controversial opinions as they have job security in the form of a greater number of fixed and fixed-discontinuous employment contracts. In their own words: "It is not the best job I have ever had, but it's my job." The main recommendation for maintaining this positive effect on women's satisfaction and empowerment is to increase the number of women in managerial and technical positions in the handling sector.

To improve the work-life situation of these women, the most powerful tool in the medium and long term is the education of younger generations. Teaching and learning processes must include the gender perspective at all stages of education and in all areas of knowledge, from nursery school to university, and in subjects like mathematics, natural sciences, history, and foreign languages. There is ample proof that gender equality promotes sustainable local development for all sectors of society. Likewise, public policies should encourage creating mechanisms that improve the degree of family and work-life balance for women, such as the establishment of child-care centres within companies of a significant size.

Regarding future lines of research, extrapolations of this analysis to other sectors such as, for example, at the national level, the strawberry and red-fruit sector of Huelva, Spain or, at the international level, the vegetable sector in Morocco are possible. However, this sector's main limitation is the pending negotiations for the collective agreement for the handling sector in the province of Almería, a negotiation process that has been stalled since 2018.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.D.P.V., J.M.-G., J.U.-T. and M.A.G.-V.; methodology, J.D.P.V., J.M.-G., J.U.-T. and M.A.G.-V.; writing—original draft preparation, J.D.P.V., J.M.-G., J.U.-T. and M.A.G.-V.; writing—review and editing, J.D.P.V., J.M.-G., J.U.-T. and M.A.G.-V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
