Empowering Rural Women

Online Discussion on Rural Women

Wikigender is hosting an online discussion leading up to a side event co-organised bythe OECD Development Centre and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland at the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on 1 March.

There is increasing evidence that ensuring rural women's economic empowerment in developing countries could deliver multiple dividends including poverty reduction, increased food production and decreased child malnutrition. Yet, rural women and girls face several constraints that limit their social and economic opportunities and consequently hinder poverty reduction and development. Discriminatory social institutions, defined as formal and informal laws, social norms and practices that restrict, limit or exclude women, play a critical role in defining and mediating gender relations, and consequently influence rural women's economic and social opportunities. Understanding how these discriminatory social institutions affect rural women and agricultural production is critical for enhancing aid effectiveness and the design of targeted policies to address food insecurity.

Wikigender invites its powerful community in participating in the online discussion on rural women's empowerment and to present the main outcomes of the discussion at the CSW side event organised by the OECD Development Centre. At the side event entitled “Empowering women by transforming social institutions” at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will be presented the Social Institutions and Gender Index and findings linking land rights, food security and agricultural production.

The inputs from the Wikigender community will be presented via a summary report presented by community manager Estelle Loiseau at the event. We hope that your inputs will enrich the discussion at the side event in New York on 1 March and increase the centrality of rural women's role in key areas such as poverty reduction.

Guiding questions

• How does discrimination in access to, and control over, resources such as land and property influence rural women and girls' social and economic outcomes? How does discrimination against rural women and girls relate to broader policy challenges such as food insecurity, climate change and poverty?

• What are examples of successful approaches for ensuring women and girls' rights to resources (land, credit, other), both in the law and practice on the ground?

• What actions should governments, donors, UN bodies and civil society take to address discrimination against rural women and girls?