Women are the solution for a better world, without hunger and without poverty. They are the impetus for rural agriculture to thrive, a real backbone in agricultural work.
Women are the solution for a better world, without hunger and without poverty. They are the impetus for rural agriculture to thrive, a real backbone in agricultural work.
This was admitted by the Director General of FAO, José Graziano Da Silva, during an international meeting last December which, in addition to FAO, involved the World Fund for Agricultural Development, the European Commission and the protégé UN Women.
“Achieving the gender equality and empowerment of women not only is it something right but it is an essential ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition ”- underlined Da Silva.
Women represent the 45% of the agricultural workforce in developing countries, a percentage that reaches 60% in some areas of Africa and Asia.
These data underline the importance of ensuring that women living in rural areas have equal opportunities according to general FAO guidelines.
Opportunities must be given to women because when they have them they know how to exploit them for increase farm income and crops. Women know how to better manage natural resources and consequently food security increases.
For this reason according to the FAO rural women are the solution to achieve all the goals of sustainable development and to free the world from hunger and poverty.
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It is often said that if a woman is educated, an entire generation is educated. The same happens when you help women in any field, by accessing jobs and education and giving them a voice.
However, current statistics indicate that the world is not achieving this, according to FAO.
Agricultural yields would rise by nearly a third if women had the same access to resources as men. As a result, there would be far fewer hungry people in the world.
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I children they also have better prospects for the future when their mothers are healthy, educated and have financial resources.
In particular:
- In developing countries, women make up 45% of the agricultural workforce: from 20% in Latin America to 60% in parts of Africa and Asia.
- In developing countries of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, women usually work 12-13 hours a week more than men.
- In all regions, women have less likely than men to own or control land. Less than 20% of the world's landowners are women. According to FAO, this gender gap must be closed.
- If peasant women had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be drastically reduced.
- Women they reinvest up to 90% of the profits in their families, the money is spent on food, medical care, school and income-generating activities, helping to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
According to IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze:
"Gender equality must strengthen the food and nutritional security of rural communities and improve their social and economic well-being".
If, in conclusion, we really want to end poverty and hunger once and for all, we need to extend all our support to women living in rural areas because they form the basis of food and economic security for their families and for the world.
Marta Albè
