As we await the final agreed conclusions from CSW 56, Soroptimist International shares its message to Governments and UN leaders alike.

Soroptimist International, speaking on behalf of nearly 90,000 women worldwide,
representing 3,000 local communities in 124 countries and territories, calls
upon governments to recognise women and girls as the driving force which brings
food from the farm to the fork – from seeding to feeding.

Soroptimist
International draws upon the experience of our grassroots clubs, responding to
local needs in rural areas, to bring these salient points to the attention of
the governments here today.  Policies, programmes, funding streams, and security
measures must protect, respect, and fulfil the rights of women as the stewards
of traditional seeds, as the proponents of organic farming, as the harvesters of
agricultural crops, as the sellers of produce at markets, as the purchasers of
food for families, and as the person responsible for cooking, pasteurising, and
storing food in the home.

The rural women’s critical role cuts across the
entire life course of food, reaching the core of the priority theme of this 56th
session of the Commission on the Status of Women, “the empowerment of rural
women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current
challenges.”  By ensuring that governments take all necessary steps to educate,
empower, and enable opportunities for women as farmers and sellers, mothers and
nourishers, consumers and cooks, we can begin to progressively realise both
poverty and hunger eradication, improvement in human development, and, most
importantly to Soroptimist International, the positive transformative of the
lives of women and girls in need. 

Food security and food sovereignty are
at the heart of the immediate needs of rural women, and rural women are at the
heart of the solutions to poverty and hunger.  They grow food, sell food,
prepare food, and preserve food.  Yet they have a fraction of the resources
available to their male counterparts.  They do not have the same access to land,
to training, to financing, or to the tools needed for small scale farming as
their fathers, husbands, or sons.  Yet without these women, the fathers,
husbands, and sons would go hungry.  There would be no crops, no food to buy at
market, no food in the home, and no one to prepare the food. 

This,
distinguished delegates and ministers, member of the commission, and fellow
non-governmental organisations, is what we need to do to eradicate poverty and
hunger, to realise human development and potential, and overcome the current
challenges.  Empowering rural women throughout the life course of food must be
central to the decisions which come from this 56th session of the commission on
the status of women.

We must tear down the barriers in access to
resources for rural women.  We must enact policies which enable rural women to
sustain their livelihoods.  We must repeal any and all laws which discriminate
against rural women.  We must create safe and secure environments for women to
farm, sell, buy, and cook food.  We must enable financial streams which benefit
rural women and girls as the primary producers of food worldwide.  And, before
all else, we must include rural women in these decisions.