happy international day of rural women!
credit: UN Women/Narendra Shrestha
The UN designated October 15th as international day of rural women in recognition of the crucial role that women and girls play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing. Rural women play an invaluable and significant role in food security, resource stewardship and and environmental sustainability. Although women account for a substantial proportion of the agricultural labour force, in addition to the bulk to unpaid domestic and care work, women and girls in rural areas suffer more extreme levels of poverty. They also face gender related barriers to exiting poverty due to difficulties accessing credit, land and other essentials.
"Globally, with few exceptions, every gender and development indicator for which data are available reveals that rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women, and that they disproportionately experience poverty, exclusion and the effects of climate change." - .un.org
The focus of International Day for Rural Women 2017 is: "Challenges and opportunities in climate-resilient agriculture for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls." Rural women and girls are disproportionately affected by by climate change events and conditions including access to natural resources and the consequences of climate change can often reinforce and intensify existing gender inequalities.
When women succeed, all aspects of society improve as a result. They play a key role in building community resilience and responding to climate-related disasters. They tend to make decisions about resource use and investments in the interest and welfare of their children, families and communities. When women are empowered to act as both economic and political actors, they influence policy decisions in the direction of provision of a public good and access to social infrastructure. All of these are crucial for peaceful societies that be resilient in the face of disaster.
Today also marks the beginning of Food Week of Action, presented by the Presbyterian Hunger Programme - this year we are proud co-sponsors! Every day this week has a theme or action that you can take to make a real change in the world.
To read more about this year's celebration at UN Women click HERE.