Complete document: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw47/Crp4.pdf
The situation of rural women has been an issue of concern to
the international community for several decades. The four World
Conferences on Women in 1975, 1980, 1985 and 1995, as well as
the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly in
2000 (A/RES/S-23/3, annex), explicitly considered this question,
and adopted comprehensive sets of policy recommendations as
part of their outcome documents.
Issues covered by these recommendations included rural women’s
access to and control over productive resources, such as land,
capital, credit and technology, questions of gainful employment
and unpaid labour, participation in decision-making, food security
issues, and the education and health of rural women.
Since 1985, the General Assembly has regularly considered
the situation of rural women and adopted resolutions thereon.
Recently, the discussion focused on the situation of rural women
in the context of emerging global trends and the impact of these
trends on rural development. The gender perspectives of issues
such as liberalization of trade and markets for food and other
agricultural products, the commercialization and modernization
of agriculture and the increasing privatization of resources
and services received attention, and comprehensive recommendations
were proposed to improve the situation of rural women, in particular
within the context of globalization.
In the follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women,
the Commission on the Status of Women considered the situation
of rural women as a cross-cutting concern within the framework
of its deliberations on particular themes, rather than focusing
specifically on the situation of rural women. For example, the
question of land ownership and access to other productive resources,
including water, of rural women was discussed during the fortieth,
forty- first and forty-sixth sessions when the Commission considered
themes related to the Platform for Action’s critical areas
of concern on women and poverty, and women and the environment.
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) is unique among international human rights
instruments in addressing the situation of rural women. According
to article 14, “States parties shall take into account
the particula r problems faced by rural women and the significant
roles which rural women play in the economic survival of their
families, including their work in the non- monetized sectors
of the economy, and shall take all appropriate measures to ensure
the application of the provisions of the Convention to women
in rural areas”. The Convention enumerates a range of measures
States parties are expected to take to ensure that rural women
can, on a basis of equality with men, participate in and benefit
from rural development.
Complete document: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw47/Crp4.pdf
