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: “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.“
