Gender-sensitive social protection programmes empower rural women to escape hunger and lead productive lives, says FAO at CSW63 General Debate
©FAO/Bryce Seockhwan Hwang
“When social protection systems are tailored for rural women, women become individuals, with registered names and addresses. And they become empowered to escape hunger through their own efforts, and thus lead to dignified and productive lives,” said Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations, during the General Debate at the 63rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW63) on 18 March.
Delivering a statement on behalf of FAO, Mucavi noted the need for social protection programmes to reduce inequalities in multiple dimensions faced by rural women, who represent 45 per cent of the rural labour force and yet often face greater constraints than men to access social protection, productive resources, financial services, infrastructure, markets or innovative technologies and practices.
Mucavi also informed the audience of FAO’s commitment to maximizing the impact of social protection by building and strengthening nationally owned social protection systems that are integrated in broader livelihood promotion and rural development strategies.
She highlighted the importance of collaborative advocacy for the expansion of social protection to effectively reach women and men living in rural areas and to promote linkages between social protection and agriculture, food security, nutrition, natural resource management, decent rural employment and resilience-building, particularly vis-a-vis the impacts of climate change
Organized on the theme of “social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls,” CSW63 has included a Ministerial segment with roundtables, general discussion and interactive dialogues.
CSW63 will conclude on 22 March with an outcome document, known as Agreed Conclusions adopted by Member States, putting forth commitments to address continued gender gaps and biases in social protection.
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