By The Citizen Reporter

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Today the world marks United Nations’ International Day of Rural Women (IDRW) in ways more than one. But, it must be made clear at the outset that IDRW is NOT a public holiday when, for example, people in urban centres can laze, loll, lounge and loaf the day away even as rural dwellers – especially women and girls – sweat and swelter to feed families and the world at large.

Dedicated to the billions of women who live, work and die in remote, rural places the world over, IDRW is intended to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women to Society – and, especially, to agriculture in particular, and socioeconomic development in general.

Established by the UN General Assembly in its Resolution 62/136 of December 18, 2007, IDRW “recognises 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 first IDRW was observed on October 15, 2008. But, the idea of honouring rural women with a Special Day was first mooted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995…

And, we are glad to say that the Beijing Conference’s secretary general was none other than the Tanzanian Gertrude Mongela, the first President (2004-2009) of the Johannesburg (South Africa)-based Pan-African Parliament.

October 15 was deliberately chosen as IDRW basically because it is on the eve of World Food Day of the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation, October 16 – thus further highlighting rural women’s role in food systems, including food production and security.

Strength and achievements

Since then, International Day of Rural Women is observed in many countries of the world to honour and celebrate the strength and achievements of these women in the sustainability of rural households and the general well-being of the community.

Commenting on this, the Dar es Salaam-based Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) said, “...member states of the United Nations – Rwanda included – are urged to work in collaboration with other civil society organisations (CSOs) and UN institutions to improve the situation of rural women, including indigenous women, in their national, regional and global development strategies…”

It is estimated that 43 percent of the world’s agricultural workforce are women – with the one billion people who live in abject poverty as a matter of course concentrated in rural areas.

Hence the need to recognise, appreciate and help to bolster the roles played by rural women (and girls) in feeding their families, local communities and the world at large.

This is especially the case on the ground in this day and age when the seemingly relentless world climate change and global pandemics the likes of the viral Covid-19 malady continue to ravage and savage humanity and economies as if there were no tomorrow.

We must also strive to reduce the negatives that seem to mainly work against women, such as gender inequality and gender-based violence.

If nothing else, doing this would undoubtedly free women – both rural and urban – from defensive preoccupations and concentrate more on fully contributing to all-inclusive, all-round sustainable socioeconomic development.