ISLAMABAD: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) alongwith the entire UN System will commemorate International Women's Day on March 8 (Thursday).
The day will be marked with the theme `Empower Rural Women- End Hunger and Poverty'.
"Unleashing the potential of rural women will make a major contribution to ending poverty and hunger." Executive Director, UN Women, Michelle Bachelet said in a statement issued today.
A sustainable future can only be reached by women, men and young people enjoying equality together while women have taken many positive steps forward in legal rights, educational achievements, participation in public life, and more women are surviving childbirth and can plan for their families, inequality still persists.
Nowhere are disparities and barriers greater than in rural areas for women and girls where they work long hours with little or no pay and produce a large proportion of the food grown, especially in subsistence agriculture.
The inequalities worsen in access to social services, land and other productive assets.
Women are central to the development of rural areas: it is critical that their contributions be recognized and that their voices be heard in decision-making processes at all levels.
Effective strategic, policy and programmatic responses are called for to improve women's access to financial and productive resources and services, expand their opportunities to diversify their production, increase their productivity through labour-saving technologies, and facilitate their access to high-value productive markets.
There is a need to prioritize infrastructure projects, such as roads and transportation to local markets, community-based water schemes, and renewable energy sources, and invest in rural women's initiatives that promote sustainable agriculture and biodiversity.
Opening up economic opportunities for women, particularly rural women, would significantly raise economic growth and reduce poverty.
Today on International Women's Day, "Let us reaffirm our commitment to take comprehensive action on the ground to ensure that policy-makers adopt a systematic approach for the empowerment of rural women. Rural women and girls cannot wait and governments cannot afford to fail them," the statement said.
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