Days Until International Day of Rural Women

About International Day of Rural Women

The General Assembly designated October 15 in 2007, specifically recognizing rural women's critical role in agricultural production, food security, and poverty eradication in developing economies especially.

The observance falls one day before World Food Day, a deliberate sequencing intended to connect rural women's agricultural labor directly to the following day's broader food-security messaging.

UN data has repeatedly shown rural women produce a substantial share of food in developing countries while facing disproportionately limited access to land ownership, credit, and agricultural resources compared to men.

The UN estimates rural women represent a substantial share of the agricultural labor force in many developing countries, disproportionate to the far smaller share of land they're recorded as legally owning.

The observance is also used to spotlight rural women's role in preserving traditional agricultural knowledge and seed diversity, a theme increasingly linked to broader global food-security and climate-resilience discussions.