Rural Women’s Day

October 2018

International Day of Rural Women – the invaluable contribution of rural women to development

Women account for a substantial proportion of the agricultural labour force, including informal work, and perform the bulk of unpaid care and domestic work within families and households in rural areas. They make significant contributions to agricultural production, food security and nutrition, land and natural resource management, and building climate resilience.

Even so, women and girls in rural areas suffer disproportionately from multi-dimensional poverty. While extreme poverty has declined globally, the world’s 1 billion people who continue to live in unacceptable conditions of poverty are heavily concentrated in rural areas. Keeping in mind this year’s theme in UN,  “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls,” places empowerment of rural women at the heart of fulfilling the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Amrita SeRVe has been striving hard to empower the rural women through various activities like income generation, adult literacy, and forming SHGs. Along with AMMACHI Labs and Amrita CREATE, Amrita SeRVe is working in 21 states in rural villages through Self-Help Groups run by women.