Pastoral scenes unfolded as we negotiated the mostly cemented road leading to an upland village in southern Negros last weekend.
Once more, the breadth and width of countryside images seemed limitless as we looked at the depth of the forest below, the verdance of the fields beside us and the distant waters of Sulu Sea that reflected the gentle rays of the orange sun that was about to set.
The fringes of the narrow road flashed scenes of women leading a herd of goat home, picking vegetables on their front yards and gathering clothes by the water bank that they dried after washing them in the river earlier.
The images reminded me of the rhyme and reason of a global occasion this week – International Day of Rural Women, which has been annually observed under the leadership of the United Nations since 1995. The celebration highlights the role and situation of women in rural areas.
The roadside images I saw apparently reflect the profile, as reflected in available data, of the role of Filipino rural women – that about 50 percent of them are classified as members of the labor force, with about one-fourth engaged in agricultural work, particularly in farm, livestock, forest and fishery endeavors.
Related details indicate that rural women laborers face common challenges, like limited access to resources, property, and healthcare. They are also disproportionately affected by poverty and gender-based violence with their contributions to farming, fisheries, and forestry often underestimated and unpaid.
Their participation in economic and political activities despite playing crucial roles in the rural economy is also said to be limited, like that of their counterparts in many underdeveloped and developing societies.
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The global observance this year focuses on the theme, “Rural Women Rising – Shaping Resilient Futures with Beijing+30.”
The United Nations, which spearheads the observance, said the observance this year “seeks to shed light on the inequalities women still face and advocate for their recognition and participation in decision-making.”
It also aims to “demand stronger social protection systems and reduce the digital divide adding that the commemoration aligns with the spirit of Beijing+30.”
Beijing+30 is an action agenda agreed in 1995 by 189 countries that covers 12 critical areas linked to the global Sustainable Development Goals.
A global plan, it calls for “gender equality focused on eradicating poverty, achieving climate justice, and ensuring the full participation of all women and girls in sustainable development.”
The attainment of gender equality and the empowerment of women “is not only the right thing to do but is a critical ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and climate change,” UN said as it cited that women are responsible for half of the world’s food production while working as environmental and biodiversity stewards.
Despite their role, UN added, women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from multi-dimensional poverty. They may be as productive and enterprising as their male counterparts but are less able to access land, credit, agricultural inputs, markets, and high-value agrifood chains and obtain lower prices for their crops, it added.
UN further said: “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.”
In keeping with the focus of the celebration, UN released the following details related to the observance:
• Globally, women make up over 35% of the agricultural labor force, reaching over 50% in certain parts of Africa and Asia.
• Rural women have less access to a range of resources, from land rights and credit to education and technology. For instance, women make up nearly half of the global agricultural labor force, yet they account for only 15 per cent of agricultural landowners.
• If women had the same access to productive resources as men, farm yields could increase by 20–30 per cent, feeding an additional 100 to 150 million people.
Part of the observance this year is the drumming up of efforts for the observance of 2026 as International Year of the Woman Farmer.
The holding of the observance was approved by the UN General Assembly “to increase awareness of the crucial role women farmers play in agrifood systems, including food security, nutrition, and poverty eradication, as well as address the challenges they face.
It also seeks to promote gender equality and empower women in agriculture, particularly the importance of rural and peasant women in supporting their families and economies.
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We trust that the observance this year will bring about greater consciousness not only among the people in general but, more so, on the part of policy and decision makers so that they can craft measures to expand and strengthen the participation of rural women in the shaping of their communities.
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She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. (Proverbs 31:17) | NWI
