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Article: World Rural Women's Day--15th October.(Movements Within)
- Article from:
- WE!
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Isis International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A quarter of the world's population consists of rural women. They comprise approximately 1.6 billion in number. Mostly farmers, these women produce on the average more than half of the food that is grown: up to 80 percent in Africa, 60 percent in Asia, and between 30 to 40 percent in Latin America and Western countries.
Ironically, women own only two percent of the land, receive only one percent of all agricultural credit and only five percent of all agricultural extension resources. The number of rural women living in poverty has doubled since 1970 and women represent two-thirds of all illiterate people.
Rural women all over the world play a major role ...