International Day of Rural Women, October 15th.

FORUM: "Rural Women Rising." International Day of Rural Women 2025. Rural Women make a lasting impact, but are hit hardest by extreme poverty and food insecurity. Today we celebrate the role of Rural Women in Protecting the environment, Mobilizing communities and Influencing policies, join our call to advance their livelihoods and leadership. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #RuralWomenrising, #ruralwomenday, #MujeresRurales, #15October, #RuralWomen, #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen.

EVENTS: On October 15th; The UN Women, the FAO, the IFPRI, the CGIAR will held a webinar to mark the observance of the International Day of Rural Women. Register to Paricipate!

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.

Statement by the UN Women on the International Day of Rural Women, October 15th.

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.

For generations, women in rural settings have driven collective movements for change: mobilizing communities, influencing policies, and championing vital issues such as climate justice. Their leadership continues to build bridges between local action and global progress, even as rural areas are hit hardest by extreme poverty and food insecurity, impacting women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples the most. If current trends continue, 351 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030.

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.

This year’s theme ‘Rural Women Rising’ is both a tribute and a call to action. Advancing their livelihoods, leadership, rights, and resilience – as set out in the Beijing+30 Action Agenda – is essential. Initiatives such as the International Year of Women Farmers in 2026 and the Inter-American Decade for the Rights of All Women, Adolescents and Girls in Rural Settings (2024–2034), as well as community movements like Women to Kilimanjaro, offer powerful opportunities to make their work visible, their voices heard, and their rights recognized.

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.

UN Women Executive Director.

International Day of Rural Women 2023; October 15th.

 THEME: “Rural women, women with rights” International Day of Rural Women 2023. 

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.

EVENTS: Commemoration of the International Day of Rural Women 2023.  

The seminar will be held from on October 10th, 9:00 to 11:30, from FAO Santiago de Chile will 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.

2023 Registration Form for the 17 Days Campaign. Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF).

We wish to inform you that the WWSF secretariat has decided this year to skip our annual “Call to action – 17 Days of Activism 2023”, and share with you the publication: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023: Towards a Rescue Plan for People and Planet.

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.“

Rural Women, Women with rights regional campaign

International Day of Rural Women Day 2022; October 15th.

FORUM: "Rural women rise and claim your right to Sustainable Development." International Day of Rural Women 2022.

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.

STORIES

This week we celebrate people who works with and for rural women everyday by increasing the quality and value of seeds used to sustain their livelihoods and nutrition.

RURAL WOMEN IN TRADE AND DIGITALISATION.

RURAL WOMEN IN PEACE AND SECURITY  IN UGANDA.

EVENTS: On October 15th, we celebrate the International Day of Rural Women 2022 under the theme "Rural women rise and claim your right to Sustainable Development." The UN- Women, IFPRI, FAO, IFAD, ILO and the Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) support the leadership and participation of rural women in shaping laws, strategies, policies, and programmes on all issues that affect their lives.

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.

International Day of Rural Women 2013 , October 15.

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.

Documents

Resolutions

• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: 64/217. Women in Development (A/RES/64/217)
• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: 64/1140. Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (A/RES/64/140)
• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: 62/206. Women in development (A/RES/62/206)
• Resolution adopted by the General Assembly: 62/136. Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas (A/RES/62/136)

Reports

• Decent Work and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Good Policy and Practice (2012)
• Rural Pacific Island Women and Agriculture : Evidence, Data and Knowledge in Pacific Island countries (2012)
• The Future Women Want: A Vision of Sustainable Development for All (2012)
• From Transition to Transformation: sustainable and inclusive development in Europe and Central Asia (2012)
• Rural Poverty Report (2011)
• UN Women Annual Report (2010-2011)
  
• Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty (2010)
• Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas: Report of the Secretary-General (A/64/190)
• World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Report of the Secretary-General (A/64/93)
• Improvement of the situation of women in rural areas: 2007 Report of the Secretary-General (A/62/202)
• Women in development: Report of the Secretary-General (A/62/187)
• Women 2000 and Beyond: Rural women in a changing world: Opportunities and challenges