The key to end hunger and poverty worldwide lies in the empowerment of rural women.
This is the message the UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet to mark International Women’s Day celebrated today.The former Chilean President praises the many changes that took place in the last 100 years that allow women to reach their full potential.
However, Ms Bachelet notes that today girls and women face disparities and barriers in rural areas.
She says rural women and girls make one forth of the planet’s population.
Ms Bachelet writes that although rural women work long hours with little or no pay and produce a large proportion of the food grown, they face some of the worst inequities in access to social services and land and other productive assets.
She says providing women farmers with equal access to resources, land rights and credit would result in 100 to 150 million fewer hungry people and fewer malnourished children.
Ms Bachelet wished that today’s celebration of International Women’s Day is an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment to women’s rights.