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International Women’s Day: Empowering rural women to achieve food and nutrition security
Tuesday, 2015/03/10 | 07:55:58
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IFAD 4 MARCH 2015 – This year, the international community is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995. International Women’s Day 2015, observed on 8 March, is therefore a special occasion to celebrate achievements made since Beijing and to take action on meeting the remaining challenges to women's empowerment and gender equality.
As part of this global observance, IFAD and three of its Rome-based partners – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme and the International Land Coalition – are focusing on rural women's empowerment to achieve food and nutrition security.
Stories of innovation
Rural women make significant contributions to their local economies, and to global trade, as smallholder farmers, entrepreneurs and labourers. They are responsible for producing and processing food, and feeding and caring for family members − particularly children and the elderly. They also generate income and contribute to the overall well-being of their households.
However, in many countries, rural women continue to face discrimination in access to agricultural assets, education, health, employment and other services. Such obstacles prevent them from fully enjoying their fundamental rights and opportunities for growth.
To address these issues, IFAD is hosting a panel of leading experts from the Rome-based agencies who will share stories of innovations that have empowered women, made a difference to rural livelihoods and contributed to food security and nutrition. The agenda for the 6 March panel covers a range of issues and case studies from Bangladesh to Madagascar to Niger, with a focus on:
Livestock and women's empowerment
Yet women face disproportionate challenges in access to livestock services, information and technologies, which hinder their ability to increase productivity. Similarly, women’s access to and control over land is often limited. Social and cultural norms can make it difficult for them to move around freely or to travel alone to remote areas where livestock sometimes graze.
Nevertheless, livestock ownership has great potential to increase women’s economic empowerment. It is a source of cash and can open up access to credit. Owning, controlling and benefiting from livestock production increases women’s self-esteem and strengthens their role as producers and income generators in the household and the community. Evidence shows, as well, that women are more likely than men to use their incomes to improve their children’s nutrition, health care and schooling.
Field-based approaches
And in Kenya, women are key players in a dairy production programme that focuses on goat farming for households that are too poor to own a cow. A system of goat donations helps to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable community members – including many women – have a chance to overcome extreme poverty and begin building small enterprises.
These are just a few examples of the field-based approaches to gender equality that IFAD and its partners plan to highlight this International Women's Day. Twenty years after the Beijing conference, progress continues but significant obstacles must still be surmounted.
See http://www.ifad.org/story/feature/women.htm
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