[Pak-Media] International Women's Day 2012: "Empower Rural Women — End Hunger and Poverty"

International Women's Day

"Invest in rural women. Eliminate discrimination against them in law and in practice. Ensure that policies respond to their needs. Give them equal access to resources. Provide rural women with a role in decision-making."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

"Unleashing the potential of rural women will make a major contribution to ending poverty and hunger."

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women

Please find attached and below a Press Release from the UNWomen, Pakistan and messages from the United Nations Secretary-General, Executive Director, UNWomen and the Director-General of the ILO for your kind placement.

For more information about the Day,feature resources and background information please visit : http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/

With best regards,

PRESS RELEASE

 

Islamabad, 7 March, 2012

 

 

"Unleashing the potential of rural women will make a major contribution to ending poverty and hunger." Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director, UN Women

 

This year, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), along with the entire UN System, will be commemorating International Women's Day on March 8  around the theme 'Empower Rural Women- End Hunger and Poverty'.  

 

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.

 

 

 

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For further information and media assistance, please contact,

 

Shaheen Hussain, Programme Specialist - Knowledge Management, UN Women Pakistan

Plot #5-11, Diplomatic Enclave #2, Sector G-5, Islamabad, Pakistan

Tel: +92-51-260-0982-4 ext 2046, Fax: +92-51-260-0985

Email: shaheen.hussain@unwomen.org

Website: http://www.unwomen.org.pk