1359. Improving the Role and Status of Rural Women in Food Production

October 15th is the International Day of Rural Women. Improving the environment surrounding rural women is expected to not only alleviate poverty but also contribute to sustainable development.

Achieving gender equality and empowering women are essential in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger, and climate change. Women are guardians of the environment and biodiversity, and are responsible for half of the world's food production.

However, many women and girls in rural areas continue to suffer disproportionately from multidimensional poverty. Structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to restrict women's decision-making power and political participation in rural households and communities. Rural women and girls lack equal access to productive resources and assets, public services such as education and health, and infrastructure including water and sanitation, and much of their work remains invisible and unpaid. With few exceptions, global gender and development indicators show that rural women disproportionately experience poverty, marginalization, and the impacts of climate change more than rural men and urban women.

This International Day aims to highlight the inequalities rural women still face and to advocate for their participation in decision-making, call for stronger social protection systems, and narrow the digital divide.

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki, Information Program