Every year on October 15th, we celebrate the International Day of Rural Women, which was established by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. This day highlights the important role rural women play in food production, environmental care, and climate action.
That’s why this year, the theme is to celebrate how rural women are the backbone of food and crop cultivation and to highlight their necessity globally.
The key role of rural women
According to the United Nations (UN Rural Women’s Day), if women had the same access to farming resources as men, they could significantly boost food production. In fact, farm yields could increase enough to feed an additional 100-150 million people.
However, rural women face many challenges: they often have less access to the tools and resources needed to farm effectively. This results in income losses of about 8% for households led by women.
Despite these challenges, rural women are responsible for producing half of the world’s food. Alongside farming, they play a key role in protecting the environment and preserving biodiversity.
Facing climate change
Women, especially those in farming, have had to adjust to the impacts of climate change.
Indigenous women, in particular, are leaders in environmental conservation. They use their traditional knowledge to protect the land and have been at the front of climate movements worldwide, pushing for action and change.
Climate change affects rural women more than others, especially those whose lives depend heavily on farming. The unpredictable weather patterns and rising temperatures directly impact their ability to grow food.
The need for equal access and support
The UN Women report emphasises that even though women do much of the work in food production, they don’t have the same power or access to resources as men. This inequality exists even though women have the ability to help provide enough food for everyone on the planet. (In Focus: International Day of Rural Women)
Today, food insecurity is a growing problem. The UN Women report calls for the need to rebuild our global food system, with a focus on supporting rural women’s livelihoods.
By giving them the tools and resources they need, rural women can continue to grow and distribute a wide variety of healthy crops that can help solve this problem.
Our impact on rural women
The Community Revolution’s Moringa Initiative project, is an example of a sustainable agriculture, and food system development programme, that was developed to help address the challenges facing rural communities; particularly women. By developing food-systems (and value-chains) via capacity building programmes, and access to both markets and finance, the initiative provides women farmers with a source of income to help better the lives of their families, and even to send their children to school.
Additionally, our digital skills training programmes aim to help equip rural women with basic digital literacy skills to enable them to access information, markets and facilitate lifelong learning. Our community energy resource centres for digital learning (CERC-DL) aim to provide communities with energy hubs for the purpose of facilitating lifelong learning.
These women are essential to both feeding the world and protecting our planet. By ensuring they have the same opportunities as men, we can help tackle hunger and build a more sustainable future.
It’s important to recognise days like this and understand their significance. By staying informed, we can all become more aware and make a difference.
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