Rural women's empowerment safeguards our future

TEHRAN – Rural women are responsible for half of the world’s food production, while working as environmental and biodiversity stewards; empowering them will safeguard everyone’s future.

In 2007, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) established the Day to recognize “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including Indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty”.

Now, the International Day of Rural Women is marked annually on October 15. It highlights taking actions to promote gender equality and empower women living in rural communities.

According to the UN website, empowering women is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger, and climate change.

Women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from multi-dimensional poverty. They may be as productive and enterprising as their male counterparts, but are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets, and high-value agrifood chains and obtain lower prices for their crops.

Structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to constrain women’s decision-making power and political participation in rural households and communities. Women and girls in rural areas lack equal access to productive resources and assets, public services, such as education and health care, and infrastructure, including water and sanitation, while much of their labour remains invisible and unpaid.

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.

Under the theme ‘The Rise of Rural Women: Building Resilient Futures with Beijing+30’, this International Day, promoted by UN Women, seeks to shed light on the inequalities they still face; advocate for their recognition and participation in decision-making; demand stronger social protection systems; and reduce the digital divide. The commemoration aligns with the spirit of Beijing+30, a global plan for gender equality focused on eradicating poverty, achieving climate justice, and ensuring the full participation of all women and girls in sustainable development. Wherever they live.

Let’s promote their work as food providers and protectors of the environment. Let’s demand their participation in decision-making within their communities. Let’s promote rural areas where women can have the same opportunities as men.