International Day of Rural Women

The International Day of Rural Women is meant to recognize the critical role that rural women, including indigenous women, play in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

Women account for a substantial proportion of the agricultural labour force, including informal work, and perform the bulk of unpaid care and domestic work within families and households in rural areas. They make significant contributions to agricultural production, food security and nutrition, land and natural resource management, and building climate resilience. Yet women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from poverty in all of its forms. For example, women farmers may be as productive and enterprising as their male counterparts, but they are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets and high-value agri-food chains; they are also more likely to obtain lower prices for their crops.