From 1-17 October 2025 will be held the “17 Days of Activism for the Empowerment of Rural Women Leaders and their Communities.” The “Rural women, women with rights” campaign, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is a collaborative work initiative that joins efforts, articulates networks, and disseminates knowledge and positive experiences to promote the full autonomy of women in the rural world. Since 2016, this campaign has articulated government entities, civil society organizations and United Nations agencies around regional and national political advocacy actions, in favor of the empowerment of rural women.
On this International Day of Rural Women, we call for bold action to advance the equality, rights, and empowerment of women and girls living in rural settings. Every day, they feed communities, protect the environment, and power sustainable development. Investing in them is both an act of justice and a safeguard for our shared future.
Amid these challenges, Verene Ntakirutimana’s story from Rwanda demonstrates how empowering women in rural settings creates tangible, lasting change. With support from the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment, she transitioned from subsistence farming to a thriving small business. Her success shifted community attitudes: challenging stereotypes, promoting shared decision-making, and inspiring others to follow her example.
When rural women rise, fields flourish, families thrive, and societies transform, propelling us toward the vision of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the SDGs.
FORUM: "Keep Your hands clean.'' Global Handwashing Day 2025. Hand hygiene saves lives—but 2 Billions people still lack access at home To accelerate progress, the WorldBank supported WHO & UNICEF in launching global hand hygiene guidelines to help governments expand access & drive lasting change.
In 2025, WHO celebrates 17 years of this global campaign.
One of the WHO indicators is hand hygiene compliance monitoring and feedback established as a key national indicator, at the very least in all reference hospitals by 2026.
Additionally, the WHO Framework for Action 2024-2030 focused on WASH, waste and electricity services highlights the need for universal safe access to ensure quality of care (linked to climate and health), including by integrating WASH and waste requirements into health system planning, programming, financing, implementation and monitoring, which can in part be supported by IPC efforts.
Therefore, it is recognized and reinforced that at this time countries and health care facilities should continue to highly prioritize optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) alongside appropriate glove use, including through greater awareness and supported by IPC practitioners as part of an IPC team and programme.
Objectives
Promote optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) and the times for appropriate glove use within the health care workflow.
Promote inclusion of hand hygiene within national IPC strategies, as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs) at facility level, according to the recommendations of the WHO global action plan and monitoring framework 2024-2030.
Raise awareness of the environmental and climate impact of gloves on waste generation and management, especially when used unnecessarily.
ADVOCACY MATERIALS: Don't forget to use #handhygiene with your campaign related posts. Get the advocacy toolkit! All assets: There is a wide range of campaign materials available in the six official UN languages ready for download.
FORUM: “Rural Women Sustaining Nature for Our Collective Future: Building climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and caring for land towards gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.” International Day of Rural Women 2024. Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change. Women are responsible for half of the world’s food production while working as environmental and biodiversity stewards. As farmers, women have learned how to cope with and adapt to climate change, for example, by practicing sustainable agriculture in harmony with nature, switching to drought-resistant seeds, employing low-impact or organic soil management techniques, or leading community-based reforestation and restoration efforts. Indigenous women have been at the forefront of environmental conservation by bringing invaluable ancestral knowledge and practices, and rural women have been leading global and national climate movements that have spotlighted the need for action for the sake of this and future generations. Given their position on the frontlines of the climate crisis, women are uniquely situated to be agents of change — to help find ways to mitigate the causes of global warming and adapt to its impacts on the ground. However, reports prove that climate change has a more pronounced impact on women, primarily indigenous and peasant women, whose agricultural dependence, living conditions, and marginalization expose them to a greater degree of changes due to climate, loss of diversity, and pollution. Let’s promote their work as food providers and protectors of the environment. Let’s demand their participation in decision-making within their communities. Let’s promote rural areas where women can have the same opportunities as men. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #Womenwithrights, #ruralwomenday, #MujeresRurales, #MujeresConDerechos, #15October, #RuralWomen, #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen.
FAO Asia-Pacific: On October 17th, from 11.00 am - 12.30 pm ICT (GMT+7) you are invited to join the event "entitled “Breaking the barriers: Gender equality, water and financial inclusion in agrifood systems in Asia and the Pacific.” to discuss gender equality, water and financial inclusion in agrifood systems in Asia-Pacific. Register to participate!
FAO Latin-America: On October 1st, starting at 11:30 am, the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean will be held a virtual-event from the FAO Santiago de Chile to commemorate the International Day of Rural Women 2024. The objectives are to share the reflections and community proposals of rural women and their organizations in order to close the gender gaps associated with poverty and food insecurity through the sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in the agrifood systems of Latin America and the Caribbean. The dialogue will feature organizations, networks, and regional coalitions of rural women and leaders, especially those formed by Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and/or young women. In addition, governments from the region, academia, civil society organizations, UN system agencies, and actors involved in the development of COP16 on biodiversity, among other key players, will be invited to contribute to closing the equality gaps between rural women and men. In Latin America and the Caribbean, women and their organizations represent one of the key actors in transforming traditional agrifood systems into sustainable, resilient, and inclusive models by 2030. However, rural women continue to face multiple gender inequalities that affect their access to productive resources, such as land, tools, or technological innovation, among others. This makes it difficult for them to be recognized as producers and beneficiaries of various forms of support and incentives, including training, financing, and state assistance, which prevents the full consolidation of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive agrifood systems. Additionally, rural women face a significant burden of unpaid care work, both in the family and community spheres, closely related to the caregiving roles that our societies define as feminine. As a result, rural women face greater job insecurity, are often situated in the least profitable segments of value chains and have limited access to contributory and non-contributory social protection, greatly increasing the feminization of poverty, the incidence of food and nutritional insecurity among them, and reducing their resilience to crises, events, and shocks associated with climate change. Globally, female-headed households experience an average annual income loss of 8% due to heat stress and 3% due to flooding, compared to male-headed households. Additionally, a 1°C increase in long-term average temperature is associated with a 23.6% reduction in farm income and a 34% reduction in total household income for female-headed households, compared to male-headed households. Despite the notable increase in many biodiversity-friendly practices, such as agroecology, organic farming, sustainable forest management, agroforestry, integrated pest management, and the ecosystem approach to fishing and aquaculture, biodiversity is decreasing at the genetic species and ecosystem levels. For example, plant diversity in farmers' fields is decreasing in some countries, and more than one-third of fish stocks are overexploited. Women and other vulnerable social groups tend to rely more on biodiversity for their livelihoods, as crops and livestock breeds constitute their only source of food and income. Therefore, they are disproportionately affected by biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, climate change, and natural disasters. With the primary objective of supporting the initiatives of rural women and their organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched the Rural Women Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability Acceleration Programme, a regional initiative that will transformatively support the economic, social, and political empowerment of rural women while contributing to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration. In light of this adverse scenario, and with an focus toward the 16th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), FAO, UN Women, and UNFPA are inviting rural women's organizations to participate in a dialogue focused on identifying the main challenges, strengths, and solutions to close gender gaps related to poverty, food insecurity, and biodiversity conservation in the agrifood systems of Latin America and the Caribbean. Get the invitation and Watch the virtual event!
The International Day of Rural Women recognizes the critical roles and contributions of rural women, including Indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and nutrition, and eradicating rural poverty. These are vital for protecting and securing our common future. The 2024 International Day of Rural Women invites all stakeholders to celebrate rural women’s essential role in building climate resilience, conserving biodiversity, and caring for the land.
And as we speed towards the three Rio Convention Conferences of the Parties this year, let us unite in promoting rural women’s rights, amplifying rural women’s voices, and taking concrete action to support their indispensable role in forging a more equitable, just, and sustainable world for all people and the planet.
According to the latest FAO report, Rural women play a crucial role in agricultural and non-agricultural activities, which emerge as agrifood systems develop and economies change. There, women work as farmers, retailers, wage laborers, entrepreneurs, among other tasks. However, gender inequalities in agrifood systems cause women to be disproportionately affected by food and nutritional insecurity, monetary and time poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #15October, #ruralwomenday, #MujeresRurales#MujeresConDerechos.
The seminar will be held from on October 10th, 9:00 to 11:30, from FAO Santiago de Chilewill seek to provide a regional overview of the advances and challenges that promote or obstruct the economic empowerment of rural women in all their diversity, and will make recommendations to strengthen the economic empowerment program for rural women and generate inputs for the FAO Regional Conference -LARC 38, the Regional Conference of ECLAC-UN Women, among other initiatives within the framework of the rural women's agenda in the region. In view of this situation, the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in the framework of the Commemoration of the International Day of Rural Women and the strengthening of its program for the economic empowerment of this group, invites counterparts from government, civil society, academia, private sector and United Nations agencies to discuss and propose strategies for closing gender gaps in agrifood systems.
During the seminar, examples of legislation, policies and programs will be presented with a focus on what has worked and specific recommendations will be shared on how to make more and better interventions with and for rural women. From a vision of collective action, the seminar will seek to generate alliances and identify strategies and interventions with scalability potential, based on the agenda of rural women in the region, to accelerate rural women economic, social and political empowerment. The Seminar will begin with welcoming remarks by FAO, followed by thematic talks that will delve into the central aspects of sustainable rural development from a transformative gender equality approach, followed by a space for guided reflection, and ending with a session of agreements and closing. The interventions will incorporate success stories and review the strategies mobilized to bring about the necessary change towards an egalitarian welfare state.
Statement from the United Nations Secretary-General on International Day of Rural Women 2023; October 15th.
CAMPAIGN: “17 Days of Activism for the Empowerment of Rural Women Leaders and their Communities 1-17 October 2023”.
The “Rural women, women with rights” campaign, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is a collaborative work initiative that joins efforts, articulates networks, and disseminates knowledge and positive experiences to promote the full autonomy of women in the rural world. Since 2016, this campaign has articulated government entities, civil society organizations and United Nations agencies around regional and national political advocacy actions, in favor of the empowerment of rural women.
Excerpt of the Report : "Five key areas for urgent action".
1} Heads of State and Government should recommit to seven years of accelerated, sustained and transformative action, both nationally and internationally, to deliver on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.
2) Governments should advance concrete, integrated and targeted policies and actions to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and end the war on nature, with a focus on advancing the rights of women and girls and empowering the most vulnerable
3) Governments should strengthen national and subnational capacity, accountability and public institutions to deliver accelerated progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
4) The international community should recommit at the SDG Summit to deliver on the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and to mobilize the resources and investment needed for developing countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those in special situations and experiencing acute vulnerability.
5) Member States should facilitate the continued strengthening of the United Nations development system and boost the capacity of the multilateral system to tackle emerging challenges and address Sustainable Development Goals-related gaps and weaknesses in the international architecture that have emerged since 2015.“
Globally, with few exceptions, every gender and development indicator for which data are available reveals that rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women and that they disproportionately experience poverty, exclusion, and the effects of climate change. Training equips them with the skills to pursue new livelihoods and adapt technology to their needs. Follow the conversation with the hastags: #15October, #RuralWomen, #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen.
It is well recognized that rural women are the backbone of rural economies. They carry essential roles in food production and nutrition, but remain disproportionately affected by poverty, inequality, exclusion and the effects of climate change. This needs to be changed to allow women and girls to fully realize their social and economic potential.
This year, on 15 October 2022, let us remind ourselves of the crucial role that women play in our food systems and the importance of eliminating the gender gap in agriculture.
Let us celebrate the rural women who bring their experience from the field and who dedicate their expertise to improving the conditions of female smallholders. Let us celebrate Kyuwon, Yunga, Yonnelle, Carine, Ayantu, Assiyatou, Efosi, Lyna, Marthe and many others who support and empower the pillars our food systems: rural women.
CAMPAIGN: Enhancing Rural women skills, leadership and resilience.
From Tanzania to Argentina, North Macedonia to India, RuralWomen are building their resilience, skills and leadership.
This year’s observance of the International Day of Rural Women
falls just after last month’s landmark adoption by world leaders of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Our challenge now is to
seize the opportunity offered by this inspiring new framework to
transform rural women’s lives.
Rural women are a significant, vital and sizeable proportion of
humankind. They are farmers and farm workers, horticulturists and
market sellers, business women and community leaders. Rural women are
the backbone of sustainable livelihoods and provide food security for
their families and communities. Their work is crucial not only for the
progress of rural households and local economies, but also for national
economies through rural women’s participation in agricultural value
chains.
Yet rural women suffer disproportionately from poverty, and face
multiple forms of discrimination, violence and insecurity. Fifteen
years of effort under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have
produced only marginal improvements in the situation of rural women.
Rural women fare worse than rural men and urban men and women for every
MDG indicator for which data are available.
The time has come to turn that around. The new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) have gender equality and women’s empowerment
at their core, and include a target to “double the agricultural
productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular
women”. Indeed, rural women are critical to the success of almost all
of the 17 SDGs.
To do better for rural women over the next 15 years, we must
build on the lessons learned during MDG implementation. Extreme poverty
is largely a rural phenomenon. We must build resilient social
protection systems, labour and product markets, governance
institutions, and civil society organizations so that rural women can
both contribute to and benefit from sustainable development.
The International Day of Rural Women is an opportune moment to
amplify rural women’s voices and experiences from around the globe. Let
us act on our commitment to creating opportunities for rural women
across every relevant goal -- and thereby advance progress for all.
Please remember that the Kit is central to the campaign "17 Days of activism 1-17 October".
For this reason we stress that you familiarize yourself with the
information contained in the Kit, including the list of 17 Campaign
themes, and especially the main theme of the year.
In addition, we draw your attention to the wide array of suggested
ideas for action presented in the Kit to support and assist you in
developing your own activities and events, be it at a local, national or
international level. Please note that you remain completely free to
focus your campaign on the theme(s) of your choice.
For your information, please note that WWSF will cintinue awarding
the annual Prize for women's creativity in rural life on 15 October -
International Day of Rural Women.
The
2013 theme “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum” celebrates the
achievements of women in the economic, political, and social fields as
they continue their vigilance and resolve for further sustainable change
in their communities.
° Rural Women : Policies to help them Thrive.
To create the key policies a rural woman needs,
we must consider the many roles a woman plays. She is a farmer and a
mother. She is a bread winner and probably a bread maker. She is ready
to invest in her children and to steward her land. She has a wealth of
knowledge and skills that are essential for nurturing and managing the
environment, agriculture, local economy, family, community and culture.
Yet frequently she is not consulted about policies, development
interventions or education programmes that will impact her life. She
faces economic and social constraints. Women account for 60 to 80% of
small holder farmers and produce 90% of food in Africa and about half of
all food worldwide. Yet in sub Saharan Africa, only 15% of landholders
are women and they receive less than 10% of credit and 7% of extension
services. Policies that address gender inequalities could,
conservatively, increase yields on women’s farms by 2.5% to 4%. Women
are key to food and nutrition security and sustainable development .We
need to empower rural women through policies that help them in Growing,
Marketing, Adapting, Caring, Connecting, and Leading.
#Growing
1) Develop a registration process for land tenure is local, cheap,
rapid, transparent and accessible for women regardless of marital status
2) Support women smallholder farmers by providing them with
agricultural extension services, grain storage, infrastructure,
information and technologies that are adapte d to their needs and farm
sizes. 3) Localise the application of agronomic knowledge, pest identification and meteorological information. 4) Provide microfinance services, especially to microcredit, to women farmers.
5) Ensure women farmers have access to agricultural inputs and
services, including mechanical tools, breeding stock, seeds,
fertilizers, and crop protection materials. 6) Encourage and coordinate multiple local actors to ensure information and supplies get into farmers’ hands.
#Marketing 1) Build local storage facilities and transportation mechanisms, including cold chain storage for food preservation. 2) Provide remote access to up to date market pricing information to improve women’s ability to sell their product directly. 3) Develop well functioning markets through transparent information, fair prices, sound infrastructure and proper regulation. 4) Empower women farmers in organizational frameworks and encourage them to organise in marketing groups and cooperatives. 5) Improve women farmers’ marketing skills through entrepreneurship training. 6)Reduce market distortions to improve opportunities for all strata of agriculture worldwide .
#Conserving 1) Invest in women farmers who are engaged in conservation agriculture to prevent soil erosion and land degradation. 2) Support programs that help women farmers to manage watersheds and use water more efficiently.
3) Protect wildlife habitat and biodiversity through an integrated
ecosystems pproach that incorporates women’s knowledge and leadership.
4) Promote sound management of chemical substances, including through
the improvement of health and safety conditions for agricultural
workers. 5) Invest in bioenergy where it contributes to energy
security, rural development, poverty and create new income opportunities
for women.
#Adapting
1) Provide early warning systems such as community based disaster
preparedness and management, and early weather forecasting systems that
build on local knowledge and practices, to help them make decisions
relating to sustainability and productivity. 2) Use a knowledge
based approach of best practices, commit to increasing support for
farmer to farmer training, including specific programs for women
farmers, and value their traditional knowledge. 3) Popularize new
policies, extension programs, practices and technologies in
beneficiaries’languages, while recognizing the need to adapt to local
knowledge, education, and culture. 4) Ensure women farmers have access to stress, flood, or drought resistant seed varieties. 5) Support community based, small scale renewable bio energies. 6) Make adaptation funds, risk management programs, and training on climate change impacts available to rural women.
#Caring
1) Increase food security by investing in infrastructure, which
includes roads, hospitals, clean water facilities, warehouses, schools
and other initiatives to keep rural families together. 2) Require mandatory school programs for girls and boys along with social protection programs and available childcare.
3) Provide educational support for girls and women through training
facilities, scholarships, mentoring, extension services and other forms
of technical assistance. 4) Ensure access to proper maternal health
services for women and focus particularly on nutrition for the first
1000 days of mother and child. 5) Empower women in their roles as
household managers and caregivers, which is a proven strategy for
enhancing food security and nutritional outcomes especially for
children.
#Connecting 1) Promote the development of village based knowledge centres. 2) Support women’s cooperatives and their participation in mixed cooperatives. 3) Increase the number of women extension agents and train male extension agents to become more gender sensitive. 4) Prioritize women’s access to information communication technologies.
5) Establish open and transparent two way exchanges that capture the
‘voice of thefarmer’ in the process of policy formulation and
implementation.
#Leading
1) Enhance capacity for leadership and alliances among rural women to
build confidence, strengthen mutual support, and develop advocacy and
public speaking skills for influencing decisions that affect their
lives. 2) Facilitate meaningful participation of women farmers in
decision making processes through mandatory quotas, benchmarks and
indicators. 3) Foster the engagement of farmer organisations in
policy making on agriculture and rural development at international,
national, and regional levels.
To pay tribute to rural women and the role they play in global
economies and in various spheres of rural life, the International Day of
Rural Women is celebrated on October 15 annually.
Rural
women play a key role in rural economies of both developed and
developing nations, enhancing agricultural and rural development,
improving food security, and eradicating rural poverty. Agriculture
provides a livelihood for 86 percent of rural women who produce most of
the food grown, especially in subsistence farming. They participate in
crop production, livestock care, provide food, water, and fuel for their
families, and engage in off-farm activities to diversify their
livelihood. In addition, they care for their children, older persons,
and the sick.
Rural families are becoming economically dependent
on the earnings of female members, and yet, with all that women
contribute to the rural economies, their rights have been largely
overlooked. It is estimated that if women had equal access to productive
resources, agricultural yields could greatly reduce the member of
chronically hungry people in the world. Urgent action is therefore
needed to make a difference in the lives of millions of rural women
whose contributions are vital to the well-being of families,
communities, economies, and in the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals.
Rural women produce much of the world’s food, care for the
environment and help reduce the risk of disaster in their communities.
Yet they continue to face disadvantages and discrimination that prevent
them from realizing their potential. For too many rural women, their
daily reality is one in which they do not own the land they farm, are
denied the financial services that could lift them out of poverty, and
live without the guarantee of basic nutrition, health services and
amenities such as clean water and sanitation. Unpaid care work imposes a
heavy burden and prevents their access to decent wage employment.
Empowering rural women is crucial for ending hunger and poverty.
By denying women rights and opportunities, we deny their children and
societies a better future. This is why the United Nations recently
launched a programme to empower rural women and enhance food security.
The joint programme of the three Rome-based food and agricultural
organizations and UN Women will work with rural women to remove the
barriers they face, and to boost their skills as producers, leaders and
entrepreneurs
When food and nutrition security are improved, rural women have
more opportunities to find decent work and provide for the education and
health of their children. With equal access to land, credit and
productive resources, rural women can increase their productivity and
sell their goods. As equal members of society, rural women can raise
their voices as decision-makers and propel sustainable development.
The world has increasingly recognized the vital role that women
play in building peace, justice and democracy. As we approach the 2015
deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, it is time to
invest more in rural women, protect their rights, and improve their
status. On this International Day, I call on all partners to support
rural women, listen to their voices and ideas, and ensure that policies
respond to their needs and demands. Let us do everything we can to
enable them to reach their potential for the benefit of all.
