RWA Zimbabwe celebrated International Rural Women’s Day and World Food Day in two different districts, Hwedza and Makoni respectively. The two events were also attended by local traditional leadership, District Development Coordinators, representatives from the Ministry of Women Affairs Community, Small and Medium Enterprise Development. In total 457 RWA women attended the two events.
The International Rural Women’s Day 2022 theme was ‘Rural women cultivating good for all’ while, the World Food Day theme was ‘Leave no one behind’. These themes places the empowerment of rural women at the heart of fulfilling the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals and draws our attention to the fact that women living in the rural areas lack equal access to productive resources and assets, such as land, agricultural inputs, finance and credit, extension services, and technology, and infrastructure, including water and sanitation, while much of their labour remains invisible and unpaid, even as their workloads become increasingly heavy due to the out-migration of men.
During the commemorations RWA Zim Chapter leader, Thandiwe Chidavarume, alluded that rural women make up over a quarter the world population and majority of the 43 per cent of women in the global agricultural labour force. She added that rural women are the most tillers of land and they contribute much to food security both at household and community level. But when it comes to owning land, accessing agricultural inputs, financing, and technologies for climate resilience, they are left far behind men. She further explained that, with changing climate, women’s already unequal access to land and water is further impacted. She also took this opportunity to lobby the local leadership to give more women full access to land. RWA women who were present also send their lobby messages to the local leadership and government representatives in form of songs, dramas, and poems.
The District Development Officers and local Chiefs who were present during the commemorations acknowledged the role played by rural women and they pledged to support more women to have equal access to land and other resources. The two events also allowed women to have an opportunity to interact and reflect on their great work they are doing, the challenges they are facing as well as sharing alternatives.
