Today, October 15th is the first time that International Day of Rural Women will be observed. This new international day, established by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”

The idea of honoring rural women with a special day was put forward by Elly Pradervand, founder and executive director of Women’s World Summit Foundation in Geneva along with many other international Non Governmental Organizations NGOs at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. It was suggested that October 15 be celebrated as “World Rural Women’s Day,” the eve of World Food Day, in order to highlight the role played by rural women in food production and food security.

The UN Four World Conferences on Women provided the space for women from around the world to gather and share information and encouragement as well as being at the UN where we could influence our governmental delegations in creating documents that improve the status of women. I attended the Third World Conference in Nairobi and the Fourth in Beijing. The International Day of Rural Women is one of the many successes.

In 2007, at the tenth session of the UN Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, governments that make up the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean lobbied for the adoption of an International Day of Rural Women “as an explicit recognition of rural women’s economic contribution and the development of their communities, in particular with regard to the unpaid work they perform.”

Imagine how our world will change when women’s unpaid work will be honored and financially supported.

Namaste!!!

Ann