5 March 2012

THE EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN

1.	Background

On December 1977, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by member states, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. The UN General Assembly took the view that the adoption of such a resolution would achieve the following:
a)	Recognise that securing peace, social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms requires the active participation, equality and development of women; and
b)	Acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.
It is important to note that although the resolution for the observance of International Women’s Day was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1977, the United Nations began celebrating 8 March as International Women’s Day in 1975, during International Women’s Year. The global theme for IWD alters yearly and theme is often identified and developed internationally to serve as a guide towards the national events and debate. The theme for International Women's Day 2012 is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty”. The theme speaks to the empowerment of rural women for poverty and hunger eradication, sustainable development and accelerated progress towards achieving internationally agreed development goals such as the Millenium Development Goals. 

The theme for this year’s IWD is important for two reasons. First, rural women are “leaders, decision makers, producers, workers, entrepreneurs and service providers who contribute to local and national economies, rural development, agriculture and household livelihoods” and their contribution to economic growth and development is a “pre – requisite for economic growth and development.” Studies have shown women in most African rural areas work on average work for longer hours than their male counterparts. In countries like Benin and Tanzania, for example, rural women work respectively 17.4 and 14 hours longer per week than rural men. Globally, more than a third of the female workforce is engaged in agriculture and according to recent statistics released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 60 percent of employed women in Sub – Saharan Africa are in the agricultural sector and these statistics comprise of women as farmers on their own account, as unpaid labourers on family farms and as paid or unpaid labourers on other farms. In most African countries rural women are the primary food farmers and therefore grow most of Africa’s food, including food for subsistence and food for local and international markets. More so, women in most rural areas also bear the burden of domestic work and caring for their families. As such, women in rural areas do not only contribute to the economic development of their respective communities but they also assume the responsibility for ensuring the welfare of their families. 

Second, the population of the developing world is still more rural than urban. To be precise, 3.1 billion people or 55 percent of the world’s total population lives in rural areas and women comprise a significant proportion of the total rural population. Moreover, approximately 1.4 billion people are living on less than US$ 1.25 a day and close to 1 billon people are suffering from hunger. At least 70 percent of the world’s very poor people are living in rural areas.  Rural poverty is often attributed to a lack of assets, limited economic opportunities, poor education and capabilities and disadvantages arising from social and political inequalities  and no segment of rural society experiences the burden of rural poverty and hunger like rural women.

2.	Challenges to the Empowerment of Rural Women
The empowerment of rural women means providing rural women with the education and means to enable them to fully participate, as equal citizens, in the economic and political development of society. This empowerment further entails enabling and allowing rural women to fully participate in the development, implementation of macroeconomic policies, national developments plans and poverty alleviation strategies. The effectual and meaningful participation of rural women in the development process has been the subject of much debate in international forums such as the 1995 Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the United Nations Development Fund for Women. The philosophy of these forums is for countries to promote the economic independence of women through the creation of employment, access to resources and credit and the eradication of the persistent burden of poverty, malnutrition, poor health and illiteracy on women.  

The empowerment of rural women is however constrained by a number of factors and one such factor is their lack of access to decent and productive rural employment and non- agricultural income generating activities. Even though more than a third of the  world’s female workforce is engaged in agriculture most of these women are employed in low productivity jobs working on small farms or on family owned farms as paid or unpaid labourers or running small enterprises. The involvement of rural women in non- agricultural income generating activities and decent employment is often constrained or restricted by factors such as unequal access to resources such as credit. More often than not, constraints to women producers gaining access to financial resources are policy, legal and cultural barriers such as customary laws which prevent women from accessing credit without their husband’s consent.

Rural women further lack access to formal and non- formal education and informal education and in many parts of this world. Constraints for rural women in accessing non- formal education and informal education are driven by religious, political, social and economic factors.  Girls and women in rural areas often have limited access to education than boys and men because of their added household responsibilities and this means that they are involved in informal rather than formal employment. The lack of basic skills like literacy, numeracy and negotiating power prevents most rural women from accessing all the available employment or business opportunities. 

Rural women are still excluded from important decision making roles in their communities. In fact the voice of rural women is weak and so is their representation in local decision making bodies.  This is because, traditionally, women in rural areas have been regarded as people who belong at home, tending to needs of their husbands and children but when it comes to making local economic and political decisions, men take the lead.

Most rural women do not have access to land. Land is not only an economic and productive resource, but also a source of status and recognition. The main barriers to rural women’s access to land are institutional and cultural barriers to their social recognition. 

The extent to which rural women are involved in technology research and development and have access to new technologies also poses as a challenge to the empowerment of rural women. A primary constraint to women accessing research and technology is usually the lack of education and training. 

The absence of institutions dedicated to addressing the social, political and economic structures limiting the empowerment of rural women is a further challenge.  For example although farmer’s associations and groups are effective forums for knowledge sharing and for representing the interests of rural persons, these are still male dominated and have very few women in leadership positions. The needs, interests and responsibilities of rural women often differ from those rural women. Institutional change that is inclusive of both men and women is therefore necessary. 

Although a number of international commitments are in place which aim to empower rural women and eradicate gender inequality in rural areas such as article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979 (CEDAW), adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1979. It is interesting to note that Article 14 of CEDAW is the only text in international law which specifically addresses rural women. Goal 3 of the Millenium Development Goals on gender equality also calls for the eradication of gender inequality in rural areas. However, there is still a need for national enabling legislation to recognising the need for rural women to be empowered. There is also need for national policies to advocate for the right of rural women to access resources and services which shall ensure they are effectively empowered. 

3.	The Empowerment of Rural Women 

The international commitments briefly discussed above, which are aimed at empowering rural women, mean very little if practical measures ensuring the empowerment of rural women are not put in place. Moreover, it is important to note that the responsibility to ensure that rural women are empowered does not only lie with governments, it also lies with international and regional organizations, rural organizations, women’s organizations, farmers organizations, cooperatives and the private sector.

What follows below is a discussion of some of the measures that need to be taken to ensure that rural women are fully empowered:

a)	The integration of a gender sensitive approach or perspective into rural governance processes such as policy making, public administration, service delivery and in all rural development and agricultural policies and programmes;
b)	The revision, review, amendment or abolishment of laws and policies that discriminate against rural women and girls included those related to land and natural resources ownership, family, marriage, inheritance, housing, property rights and legal capacity;
c)	The consideration of the perspectives of rural women in designing and implementing policies related to issues facing rural communities such as poverty and hunger;
d)	The establishment of strong and adequately resourced gender equality units at senior levels in the relevant ministries (such as the agriculture and local government);
e)	The development of outreach programmes to ensure that rural women and men are aware of their rights and the role and responsibilities of national and local government in safeguarding these rights;
f)	The support of women actors in agricultural sector and facilitating the access of these women to infrastructure including transportation, information and technology ;
g)	The increase of rural women’s access to financial services, designing financial products targeted at rural women and providing rural women with access to financial literacy training;
h)	The establishment and development of cooperatives and other structures that shall ensure knowledge sharing and dialogue among rural women;
i)	The expansion of opportunities for decent agricultural and non – agricultural employment for rural women and the introduction of non – agricultural income generating activities for rural women;
j)	The full participation of rural women and rural women leaders in key decision making and budget allocation processed at all levels of government and rural institutions;
k)	The creation of measures aimed at increasing the number of women in leadership positions in agricultural organisations and other rural based organisations;
l)	The allocation of adequate financial resources in national budgets for the economic empowerment of rural women. 

In conclusion, it is apparent that rural women are the key to food security because they make up a significant share of the world’s agricultural producers and thus play a crucial role in feeding their families and nations. It is further clear that in recognising the crucial contribution of rural women to economic growth and development and taking into account their needs at all levels, governments and other key organizations, shall invariably increase the productive capacities of rural women and further unleash a need in rural women to make an even greater contribution towards the development of their communities. 

4.	References:
Draft Agreed Conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women. 10 February 2012.  Prepared for the for the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, 27 February – 9 March 2012.

Report on the Export Group Meeting On: Enabling Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment: Institutions, Opportunities and Participation. Report compiled by  Malika Abdelali – Martini of the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, Algeria for the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, 27 February – 9 March 2012.

Kongolo M and Bamgose O “Participation of Rural Women in Development: A Case Study of Tsheseng, Thintwa, and Makhalaneng Villages, South Africa” Journal of International Women’s Studies Volume 4 number 1 November 2002.

Karttunen AK “Promoting Rural Women’s Access to Income Generating Opportunities and Social Protection” Paper prepared for the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York, 27 February – 9 March 2012.

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010 -2011. Women in Agriculture . Closing the Gender Gap for Development.

Rural Poverty Report – 2010. International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Rural  Women and Development. Available from www.un.org. [Accessed 4 March 2012].

International Women’s Day. Available from www.un.org . [Accessed 2 March 2012].

Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, New York, 18 December 1979. Available from www2.ohchr.org.  [Accessed 29 February 2012].