Honoring, Uplifting, and Supporting Rural Women

Ever since International Day of Rural Women on Oct. 15, we’ve been seeing even more than usual about the incredible women doing the bulk of our world’s rural work, including indigenous women and women in countries around the globe working in difficult conditions. Rural women keep our agriculture, economies, and indeed us running. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, rural women face increasing challenges; including access to health care, increased pressure during the pandemic, medical needs, and more. Still, rural women continue to work on the front lines. We've collected just a few stories about rural women--their amazing and tireless work; the unique challenges they face right now; their initiative and innovation; how they're changing and uplifting the world, and how we might all help support their needs, advocacy, and lives. Read on for more, and keep supporting our rural women and their power and work.

Speakers: COVID-19 Unfolded Opportunities for Rural Women to Act as Agents of Change, from The Nation—“The platform of rural women conference served as a place where voices of the representatives from over 100 districts of the country raised concerns for an inclusive response to manage disasters like the way Corona pandemic played unprecedented havoc with the local communities here in Pakistan.”

In Costa Rica, Rural Women Grow Their Own Businesses, from UNDP—“The recovery from COVID-19 and the safe path to Sustainable Development must have women and nature-based solutions at its centre if we are to emerge stronger and better from the challenges we face as humanity. This involves transforming the social norms of gender imposed by culture, norms that make invisible the role of women as essential agents of conservation, and their leading role in reducing the loss of nature”

Invest in Rural Women, Help Them Build Resilience to Future Crises, Urges UN Chief, from UN News—“Rural women play a critical role in agriculture, food security and managing land and natural resources - yet many suffer from ‘discrimination, systemic racism, and structural poverty,’ the UN chief said on Thursday.”

Opinion: The Name Game: How Women Get Erased in Rural India, from Thomson Reuters—“In rural villages, one can easily find women who have their husband’s name tattooed on their wrist. However, even if her husband’s name is stitched on her flesh, most often a woman does not say his name aloud. Traditionally, a husband is a godly figure and saying his name is considered disrespectful.”

Mobilizing Rural Women for a Food-Secure Future, from Politico—“As the world grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and looks at how to address other pressing challenges such as climate change and feeding a growing global population, it is more important than ever to mobilize the entire rural workforce — especially women — in ensuring a food-secure future.”

UN Women Convenes Global Business and Philanthropic Leaders to Help Accelerate SDG Action Through Women’s Empowerment

The year 2030—and with it the deadline for achieving global gender equality—will be here before we know it, and at our current rate of progress, the goal seems out of reach. But since the Sustainable Development Goals were established in 2015, and with them Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, UN Women has been working tirelessly to achieve gender equality worldwide. The organization brought philanthropists and business leaders together at the SDG 5 Forum to bring together partners from diverse areas to organize and work together toward the common goal of gender equality. Forum participants included Al Waleed Philanthropies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chanel Foundation, Ford Foundation, Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Unilever, WPP and Read on for more details; including how much work we still have to do and the public and private sector efforts to envision—and achieve—true global gender equality.

UN WOMEN—One thousand days into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and counting down to 2030, which is the deadline for achieving global gender equality under SDG 5, UN Women convened business and philanthropic leaders on the margins of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 73) to step up commitments on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Global business and philanthropic leaders pledged more than USD 70 million in 2018 (USD 13 million of which was pledged at the UNGA 73 SDG 5 Forum today) to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment through UN Women.

No single country has ever achieved gender equality, and according to industry estimates this failure will cost USD 28 trillion[1] by 2025. Forum participants focused on how public and private sectors can bolster efforts to achieve global gender equality by 2030.

“Every day there is more evidence of what the world is missing when it falls short of equality between women and men. Our globally agreed roadmap of the 2030 Agenda puts the drive for that equality right at the centre of all the goals to be achieved,” said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Governments, civil society and the business world all contributed to that vision and must act together in shaping the solution. These combined forces are critical if we are to make unstoppable progress by 2020 and meet the 2030 target.”

UN Women was established in 2010 to help the world end gender inequality and the 17 SDGs were adopted by global leaders in 2015, with SDG 5 focusing on achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in every country of the world. The World Economic Forum estimates that it will take 217 years to achieve gender equality at the current rate of progress.

The SDG 5 Forum builds on UN Women’s work across sectors, including this month’s launch of the Global Innovation Coalition for Change’s (GICC) Gender Innovation Principles, a global set of standards adopted by an alliance of 27 partners from private sector, non-profit organizations and academic institutions that takes a gender-responsive approach to innovation and technology. The financial commitments at the SDG 5 Forum and from UN Women’s strategic partnerships will support efforts toward innovation, eliminating violence against women and girls, generating gender equality data and evidence, fast tracking women’s economic empowerment, ensuring education, providing access to health services and protection of women’s livelihoods in crisis settings, as well as building climate resilience in sustainable agricultural food chains that benefit women farmers.

We're at the #UNGA #SDG5 Forum with a special group of private sector and philanthropic leaders. Follow along as we show the world that #TimeIsNow for gender equality! pic.twitter.com/jnSdmIy7bC

— UN Women (@UN_Women) September 27, 2018

Global business and philanthropy leaders that pledged support at today’s event through UN Women to countries around the world included: Al Waleed Philanthropies, Chanel Foundation, Revlon, WPP and Zonta International Foundation. UN Women continues to benefit from financial support from foundations and global organizations such as Alibaba Group, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, International Olympic Committee, Procter & Gamble and Unilever, as well as public sector funding that enables private sector engagement from the European Union and the NAMA Women Advancement Establishment.

UN Women has established several mechanisms to mobilize private sector and foundations in the world’s quest to achieve SDG 5 by 2030 including the 1,800 companies that signed onto the  Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), the HeForShe impact movement, Common Ground, the GICC, and the  Unstereotype Alliance participants.

As the world comes together for #UNGA we ask business and philanthropic leaders to stand with us on 27 September to act for gender equality. The #TimeIsNow. Will you join us? pic.twitter.com/qamcZtIM07

— UN Women (@UN_Women) September 27, 2018

To date, UN Women has continued to connect women, governments, and communities to foster change across sectors, from using technology to increase the income of women in agriculture to help them secure decent jobs, to supporting the reform discriminatory laws worldwide. UN Women has trained more than 7,000 women leaders in politics and governance last year alone, and over 1.5 billion women and girls in 52 countries are better protected from violence through stronger legal frameworks.

Follow the hashtag #TimeIsNow and @UN_Women on Twitter for updates.

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EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE: 17 Campaigns for 17 Goals – Synergizing Campaigns for Agenda 2030

sustainability.thomsonreuters.com - Just 14 years remain to accomplish the Agenda 2030 and the world still does not know. As we completed the first year of the implementation of agenda 2030 for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, there is a greater need to harmonize campaigns contributing to SDGs. There is massive opportunity for the international development community to work together in solidarity using campaigns to forward SDGs. However, there is more focus on specific goals and targets rather than on the entire Agenda. If we continue to operate in silos, we lose sight of the big picture and end up fragmenting the Agenda, wasting resources and hindering progress. We must bear in mind that the goal of the international community is to ensure the achievement of all 17 SDGs by 2030. Instead of competing for advocacy space and much-needed resources, we must all take ownership of the Agenda as a whole and cohesively work together towards the attainment of the WorldWeWant by the year 2030. The following are good examples of campaigns for 17 goals, increasing collaboration and raising awareness on SDG achievement:

‘World Must Implement Pledges on Women’s Human Rights’

ipsnews.net - ROME, Jan 31 2017 (IPS) - “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work” will provide concrete, practical and action-oriented recommendations that will cover significant new ground, on overcoming structural barriers to gender equality, gender-based discrimination and violence against women at work, a senior United Nations official stressed. Speaking at a consultation in preparation for the Commission on the Status of Women, a body exclusively dedicated to promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, Lakshmi Puri, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), on Jan. 30 called for sustained commitment and leadership to ensure a successful outcome of the Commission.

“We are at an important [juncture] in the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment and women’s human rights,” she said.

Recalling the recent adoption of a number of far-reaching global commitments, such as Beijing+20 (the 20-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on climate change, the New Urban Agenda, and the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, Puri added:

Wonder Woman is The New UN Ambassador For Empowerment Of Women And Girls

What an icon for women and girls! Certainly young girls will look at Wonder Woman and say, "I want to be like her," and rightfully so, because Wonder Woman is strong. She is courageous. She is just as tough as the male superheroes. She is a leader. I see this notion as an opportunity for us to teach girls what kind of woman they should admire. In a world full of superficial, fake, and self(ie)-centered celebrity "idols," maybe another valuable approach is to appreciate the realness of make-believe heroes.

- Victoria Mendoza

indiatimes.com - Wonder Woman has been appointed as the new UN ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls. She will be officially titled on October 21, the character's 75th anniversary at the UN Headquarters in New York. The event will also launch the UN's global campaign supporting the fifth goal of Sustainable Development which is "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls."

"Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world," said a UN spokesperson, adding that, "Providing women and girls with equal access to education, healthcare, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large."

Wonder Woman was coined during WWII, which was in itself path-breaking. Firstly. her character broke away from the damsel-in-distress characteristic attached to women in Superhero comics with male leads and saw her saving herself from bondage. And secondly the name itself Wonder Woman - not a girl - she was a woman at par with superhero men. DC is finally handing Wonder Woman her dues in 2017 by releasing their first movie on one of the first female superheroes. And she will also be making an appearance in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Read more

UN: Empowering Women Helps the World

The Women’s Empowerment Principles, a joint initiative of the UN Global Compact and UN Women, are a set of standards aiming to set a foundation of equality and to advocate for workplace rights for women. In this post by the UN Global Compact, learn more about the principles and how empowering women to participate fully—both economically and professionally—helps raise the standard for business and society.

Article by UN Global Compact

In collaboration with UN Women, the UN Global Compact is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. By doing so, business, as a primary driver of globalization, can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology and finance advance in ways that benefit economies and societies everywhere.

A key component to achieving several initiatives for 2015 is the empowerment of women in communities and in the workplace.

UN: Empowering Women Helps the World

Women's Empowerment Principles are a set of principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. They are the result of a collaboration between the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Global Compact.

The Women's Empowerment Principles are: 1. Leadership promotes gender equality 2. Equal opportunity, inclusion and nondiscrimination 3. Health, safety and freedom from violence 4. Education and training 5. Enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices 6. Community leadership and engagement 7. Transparency, measuring and reporting

The Women's Empowerment Principles—Equality Means Business is a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The Principles outline seven steps for business on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community. The Principles highlight that empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors and throughout all levels of economic activity is essential to build strong economies; establish more stable and just societies; achieve internationally agreed goals for development, sustainability and human rights; improve quality of life for women, men, families and communities; and propel business' operations and goals. Learn more at the WEP’s Website. For a full list of companies that have signed the CEO Statement of Support for the WEP’s click here: WEPs Company Database

This year, a number of global milestones—the twentieth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA), the Post-2015 Development Agenda and anticipated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—provide a unique opportunity to ensure that the business community commits, contributes and is a key partner to achieving gender equality.

8 charts that show why life is still harder and more dangerous for women

While some countries have made great strides in recent decades toward gender equality, we still have a long way to go before reaching true parity. International Women's Day is Tuesday, March 8, and the theme this year is #PledgeForParity. "Worldwide, women continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and political achievement," the International Women's Day website proclaims. "And we have much to celebrate today. But progress towards gender parity has slowed in many places."

We'd like to pass on this article from The Independent, with five striking graphic representations of areas that still need a lot of work to reach equality, safety, and happiness of all.

independent.co.uk - Women still earn less than men across all sectors and occupations, hold just a fifth of global parliamentary seats and face an estimated 118-year wait for the gender pay gap to finally close.

Those are some of the startling statistics showing how desperately initiatives to improve education, health and quality of life asInternational Women’s Day approaches.

Sexual abuse

SexAbuse-graphic

More than a third of women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives.

The most common form is domestic violence or attacks by current or previous partners, which occur most frequently between a woman’s teenage years and menopause.

Additionally, at least 46 countries have no laws protecting women against domestic violence and many nations that do enforce them poorly.

Child sex abuse

SexAbuseChildren-graphic

An estimated 120 million girls and women under age 20 have been subjected to forced sexual intercourse or other forced sexual acts – around 10 per cent.

A Unicef report found that the violence was a “global reality” across all countries and social groups that could include harassment, rape or sexual exploitation in prostitution or pornography.

Read the rest here.

International Day of Rural Women

“Collectively, rural women are a force that can drive global progress.”—Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Rural women—their contributions, families, struggles and communities worldwide and how we can all honor, support and recognize them—were the focus of International Day of Rural Women, Oct. 15.

Rural women are often acutely in need of support, but they’re not the only ones who benefit from their empowerment. The key roles they play in their communities position rural women uniquely well to benefit those around them as they thrive. Yet even as the world has seen many advances in medicine, economics, production and more; the number of rural women living in poverty has risen.

Rural women make up about a quarter of the world’s population and produce about half of the world’s food, yet they own only 1 percent of the land. They are resilient, strong, hard workers—from the women who provide for their families each morning only to go out and work 12-hour days fishing or harvesting to the women in sub-Saharan Africa who, collectively, spend about 40 billion hours hauling water each year—yet they are undereducated and often receive little access to training or essential tools for their work.

Women also play pivotal, and sometimes desperately difficult, roles in their families. They are the most likely to be caregivers both for young and old family members, usually on top of their daily responsibilities. When food resources run scares, it is most often women in poor rural families who go hungry, giving food instead to their children and husbands.

International Day of Rural Women was established by the UN in 2007 and first observed in 2008. The observance raises awareness of the crucial role rural women play in the welfare of societies worldwide, and invites governments and organizations to pledge their support for these women, their families and their communities.

Simple measures can often go a long way. Providing women and girls with greater access to education can help for a lifetime. Less than half of school-aged girls in many rural communities attend school, and when family resources suffer, they may be pulled from school to help support the family. Women often have no chance to continue their education, but studies have shown that women with secondary educations tend to marry later, have fewer children and be less susceptible to domestic violence. When women are given access to skills-based training and agricultural resources it can greatly increase the productivity of their farms, helping to feed hundreds of millions worldwide.

When rural women win, everyone wins.

Through concerted and cooperative efforts to empower rural women; governments have begun to fight hunger, bolster economies, deal with natural disasters and rising food prices, support families and transform societies.

We would like to express our support of and admiration for the strides made and awareness raised through International Rural Women’s Day. It’s second only to our admiration for the women themselves. You are superheroes.

Learn more about International Day of Rural Women.

The Fight for Women's Rights Continues Worldwide

“If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all. Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freely—and the right to be heard.” Those words first entered the international conscience 20 years ago, as Hillary Clinton, then First Lady of the United States, spoke at the fourth annual United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing. The issues of that conference, the progress made since then and the road we still must travel have been the focus of this year’s International Women’s Day March 8, Women’s History Month and the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Efforts, events and initiatives will continue throughout 2015.

Observations like these commemorate women’s achievements throughout history and the ongoing struggle for gender equality. They also serve each year to shine a spotlight on women’s accomplishments and reflect on the progress women worldwide have made—and still must make. As the United Nations observes Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (also known as Beijing+20), this year’s International Women’s Day theme is #MakeItHappen. Make what happen? Aren’t women equal?

Not quite.

The Global Gender Gap Report, an index last released in November 2014, tracks gender inequalities in economics, politics, education and health in 142 countries. While inequalities in health and education are shrinking dramatically worldwide and eliminated in many countries, there is still work to be done—and economic participation and political empowerment are still dramatically unequal worldwide and in most countries. Some countries have made great strides in recent decades toward gender equality—a move that helps not only women, but the country as a whole, as countries with empowered women who are able to realize their full potential are most successful on the international stage.

It’s also worth noting that, despite recent advancements, not one country has reached total gender equality.

Sometimes, it’s even worse. Women and girls around the world continue to face threats including domestic partner violence, female genital mutilation, sex trafficking, barriers to education and lack of health care or birth control.

In spite of performing about 60 percent of the labor worldwide, women often receive a fraction of the wages that men do—not nearly enough to support families.

One in three women will be physically or sexually assaulted in her lifetime.

Even as the United States celebrated Women’s Equality Day Aug. 26, marking 95 years since women in the country won the right to vote, women in the country still make up only 20 to 25 percent of elected officials at the state and federal level—despite turning out to vote at rates much higher than men. The U.S. Supreme Court, at its highest female representation ever, still only boasts three women to six men.

It’s not all bad. Women are, and always have been, crucial players in developement of societies and economies. Women are starting businesses at greater rates than men in recent years, often funded by other women investors. Women are holding political office more than ever before. The number of women in the United States Congress has nearly tripled in that time, though they still make up only 20 percent.

Perhaps most encouragingly, more people are getting on board. Women and men around the world are realizing that the struggle for equality is a cause that helps us all.

Feminism and women’s issues overlap other serious concerns like labor organization, education, environmental conservation, world hunger and poverty.

President Barack Obama said, in his 2014 State of the Union Address, “Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. That’s why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time.”

Leaders, activists and citizens from around the world can make it happen—from petitioning world leaders to take action on women’s issues, to starting and investing in women’s business, to taking a critical look at gender relations and the way they talk in their everyday lives—through steps big and small, political and personal, familial and financial.

Whether you’re leading an event or march, joining one of the hundreds of celebrations around the world or fighting for equality in your community and home, we can do this. It’s 2015. It’s time. Get out there and make it happen. ----- International Women’s Day: The discussion and movement continues! Learn more about 2015 initiatives and events around the world. Facebook Twitter Use the hashtag #MakeItHappen