The United Nations Caribbean and the United Nations Women celebrated the significant contributions of rural women in the development. The words were shared by the officials while highlighting their efforts on the occasion of the International Day of Rural Women on Tuesday, 15 October.
The critical roles and contributions of Indigenous women and rural women were mentioned by UN officials. The authority quoted how they stood as pillars in the development of rural areas and their people, along with improvements in food security and agriculture.
The official also invited all the stakeholders to celebrate not just the International Day of Rural Women 2024 but also to recognise their unsung works to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change, land degradation, and more. It was also mentioned how they played a significant part in the effort to eradicate poverty.
The United Nations officials also mentioned the other part, how the lives of the rural get affected due to challenges coming from nature and how it impacts on resources, rights, and resilience. The focus was on the issues faced by rural women and girls. The United Nations Women also shared some data from their own research on climate change.
As per the latest research, under a worst-case scenario, more than 236 million women and girls could face food insecurity, and 158 million women and girls could be pushed into poverty around the globe by 2050. With time, rural women’s ability to secure healthy food, clean energy, and water has diminished as their natural resources, ecosystems, and livelihoods have been compromised.
The research also highlighted that till the last survey in 2022, around half of the rural population around the globe had no access to clean cooking fuels. Similarly, around 1.8 billion people globally were relying on off-premises supplies for drinking water.
The United Nations officials also mentioned the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which was focused on promoting the livelihoods, leadership, rights, and resilience of rural women. It was said that to take major steps in this way, scale-up investments for the rural areas are needed.
Providing access to piped water systems and electricity is also a crucial part of the initiative. The critical points shared by the United Nations officials on the International Day of Rural Women, which included elevating the conditions of rural women and girls while supporting them in domestic workloads and work of restoring ecosystems and building communities.
United Nations raised a call to take crucial steps with high-level commitments for the betterment of rural women, similar to the Inter American Decade for the Rights of Women. The other initiatives were also mentioned to highlight the approach around the world so that no rural women stay behind.
