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INTRODUCTION

The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) hosted a regional webinar on 16 April 2025 to commemorate the International Day of Peasant Struggles, under the theme: “We Are Not Invisible – Rural Women at the Frontlines of Change.” This vibrant online gathering brought together nearly 900 participants from across Africa, including women from Eswatini, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with strong solidarity and contributions from sisters in Kenya and Nigeria. The webinar served as a space to amplify the voices and struggles of rural and peasant women—those defending land, seeds, forests, water, and food sovereignty in the face of patriarchy, climate injustice, and corporate control. It also aimed to build collective strength and deepen advocacy for the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). The event featured powerful presentations and reflections from grassroots women, institutional allies, and movement leaders, reinforcing a clear message:

Rural women are not fighting for charity, they are fighting for power, dignity, and justice.

PRESENTATIONS: UN Working Group on UNDROP and FAO

 UN Working Group on UNDROP

Prof. Uche delivered an engaging and impactful presentation at the IDPS webinar, addressing critical issues that rural women in Africa must consider and actively address. Her talk effectively connected the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) to the everyday experiences of rural women. One of the strongest messages from her presentation was about the resilience and essential role of rural women, whom she described as “literally feeding societies.” She underscored the significant challenges these women face, such as restricted access to land, resources, and modern technologies. Prof. Uche specifically highlighted a troubling prediction from UN Women, noting that climate change could potentially push “up to 158 million more women and girls into poverty,” with African women being particularly vulnerable.

Prof. Uche emphasised the importance of understanding and asserting rights under UNDROP, particularly focusing on the quality of participation. She made a strong statement: “Participation is useless if it’s not effective,” urging women to ensure their involvement translates into real change. She also called attention to equal access to crucial services like healthcare, financial services, and notably, technology. She stated clearly, “Technology is shaping agriculture and food systems,” prompting women to critically examine their local circumstances regarding technology access.

Regarding land rights, Prof. Uche reiterated UNDROP’s stance that governments have a responsibility to “eliminate discrimination, provide legal recognition, provide protection against displacement from land.” She further emphasized the necessity of involving rural women’s perspectives through genuine consultation processes and thorough impact assessments. An essential but frequently overlooked topic she highlighted was the protection of traditional knowledge and seed rights. Prof. Uche emphasised, “traditional knowledge is very, very important,” advocating strongly for the protection and fair distribution of benefits derived from indigenous knowledge, which is often exploited by external entities.

Furthermore, she advocated for rural women’s active participation in political spaces, emphasising the need for timely, relevant, and transparent information. “Information is useless if it comes to you in December when you cannot do anything,” she pointedly remarked, underscoring the importance of information accessibility in effective advocacy. Prof. Uche also encouraged rural women to engage with legal frameworks and justice systems, citing successful examples of African women using the courts to challenge injustices. She advocated for collaboration with law faculties and clinics to pursue impactful litigation strategically.

Finally, she urged rural women to expand their understanding of empowerment by engaging both formal and informal sectors and prioritising education, especially in technology and intellectual property rights. She insisted that transformative education “needs to start from the primary school.” Her presentation concluded with a powerful call to action, urging solidarity, strategic utilisation of international frameworks, and grassroots mobilisation to comprehensively address the complex challenges faced by rural women, “While we’re using law and while we’re using international frameworks, let’s also think about changes that can happen on the ground. When we ask for capacity, what kind of capacity? Let’s think creatively.”

FAO Presentation

Caroline Hlatywayo from FAO delivered an insightful presentation at the IDPS webinar, highlighting key considerations for rural women’s empowerment and equality. She began by clearly establishing the crucial role women play in agriculture, stating that women are indeed “the backbone of the agricultural sector.” Caroline briefly explained FAO’s strategic approach, known as the “four betters”: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and ultimately a better life. She emphasised how closely gender equality is linked to improving agriculture and food security outcomes, urging a commitment to feminist strategies to tackle the root causes of inequality.

Throughout her talk, Caroline shared concrete examples of FAO’s efforts to support rural women, such as gender-sensitive value chains, community seed fairs, and the Dimitra clubs. These clubs, she noted, provide safe spaces where communities—women, men, and youth—can openly discuss their issues. She highlighted the clubs’ effectiveness in reducing gender-based violence, emphasising the importance of community-driven dialogue and action. One of the notable points she made concerned the persistent gender imbalances in agricultural roles. Caroline pointed out that although women do most farming work, “when it comes to selling at the market, it’s the men who go and sell.” FAO is actively addressing these imbalances by providing targeted training that helps women become financially independent and market-oriented.

Echoing earlier concerns raised by Prof. Uche, Caroline strongly supported rural women’s equal rights to seeds and resources. She encouraged communities to host seed fairs, creating platforms where rural women can gain essential knowledge about their rights and practical access to resources. Additionally, Caroline advocated for agroecology from a feminist perspective, promoting collective action, knowledge sharing, and business-oriented approaches to farming. She urged women to move beyond subsistence farming and explore ways to sustainably increase their incomes.

In closing, Caroline issued a clear call to action, urging stakeholders to prioritise intentional interventions focused on empowering women. She underscored that every initiative should ensure that “women are left more empowered,” highlighting the importance of robust research and genuine community engagement. Caroline’s message was practical and inspiring, stressing the necessity of systemic and informed approaches to achieving genuine gender equality in agriculture.

RWA Sisters Real-life Reflections

RWA LESOTHO

My name is Mamalefetsane Phakoe from Lesotho. I would like to start by introducing my country to those who doesn’t know where is LesothoLesotho is and how it looks like. Lesotho is a small country landlocked inside South Africa. Most of the people or others, they call it a little Switzerland because of its snow during winter timwintertime and mountains, while ourselves, we call it the kingdom in the sky. In Lesotho, we have the Rural Women’s Assembly, which was formed in 2014 in one district of Mafetane by 14 women. But now we are operating in 10 districts. These rural women at local level are organising themselves and joining hands to fight local struggles and advance their agendas.

Coming to today’s gathering, we are commemorating International Day of Peasants’ Struggles. I would like to take this opportunity to explain to those who is the first time to hear of the word peasants, that it means people who produce food from the land using traditional farming methods. And who are subsistence farmers? Or simply we can say, they are just small-scale farmers, especially my presentation is going to be focused on rural women. And the question is, why are they poor? There are so many reasons why these women food producers are poor. And they are including among others, the issue of patriarchy and land tenure.

I would like to start by saying, in Africa, women face significant barriers to land access and ownership. Despite their crucial role in agriculture and the broader economy, while women contribute significantly to subsistence farming, they often lack full access to agricultural land. And even when they do, their rights are often tenuous. This situation is linked to several factors, including discriminatory laws, weak enforcement, and persistent social norms that favour men in land ownership and control. While countries have laws protecting women’s land rights, these laws are often not effectively enforced, leading to a gap between policy and the practice. 

“I was a victim not so long ago when I lost my husband, that I was at the mercy of the in-laws to nominate me to inherit my husband’s land.”

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RWA SWAZILAND

Good evening, everyone. Thank you very much for this opportunity. My name is Lonhlanhla Mthethwa from Swaziland, and I’m just going to elaborate a little bit about my country. Swaziland, it’s a patriarchal country. It’s a landlocked country between Mozambique and South Africa, and its population, it’s about more than 1.2 people, and the majority are women. As Lungi said, we are visible, we are in the forefront. For us, it’s how the Rural Women was formed. It was formed in 2010, and it was launched in 2011, on the 8th of March, during the International Women’s Day. It exists in the four geographical regions of the country. We have got more than 89 community-based organisations where women organise themselves on different issues, and they meet on a monthly basis. Some meet twice a month, where they also share ideas and their struggles, and also issues of gender-based violence, and also how best can they collectively achieve or eliminate gender-based violence in their communities. 

As I’ve said, Swaziland is a patriarchal country. “Patriarchy in the country is depriving the rights of women to access to land, especially because most of the chiefs in the communities are men.”

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Quotes: Support from sisters beyond RWA

Josephine, from Kenyan Care Initiative in West Africa

“I’m so happy to be part of this call. In fact, congratulations to our women over there. We really appreciate you. Solidarity from West Africa. I want to say that women actually go through a lot. And you find out that small older women farmers in every country, they till the ground, they do a lot, but issue of finance, land and so many other things in order to preserve their goods, a huge challenge. So I believe that the same way in West Africa, the same thing in Nigeria. Women, in fact, in some locations, women are not even allowed to own land. And with that, and you did do a lot. And when you are talking about taking their goods to markets, maybe because of bad roads, all those things will sort of get bad before they get there. And issue of taxation too is another thing. Having access to fertiliser, having access to all necessary things required for them after working so hard, you find out that they are not getting it. So I want to commend the organisers of this programme for doing great job so far, because we need to promote what the good work of the women farmers in various communities.”

Susan, from La Via Campesina and the Kenyan People’s League

“Okay, thank you very much for the wonderful presentation. And maybe I think I was listening to the conversations that was taking place and I’m also trying to link with the struggle we are facing as women, especially within our spaces.Ispaces. I heard a sister talking about the issue of the industrial seeds. And I can say this has been a big challenge. Ideally, because women play a major role in the food production system. But again, realise that the ones who are being targeted by the multinational companies in terms of the multinational seeds. And we are also linking the issue of the seats and also with the issue of the loans that are affecting women. Because realise, again, they’re coming with a lot of goodies and these loans are affecting women so much.

Because when women are being targeted with things like solar system and television, and then we have any other thing, it becomes a burden. So ideally, the struggle is big, especially for the women, because they also play a major role in the production system. And as we push for achieving our food sovereignty, I think it is important to also identify the voices of the women peasants who play a critical role in the food production system. But again, we have the issue of patriarchy, where again, realise women cannot even, they grow, but they don’t have access. They don’t have access to the produce they are producing from their farms. So this, again, I realise that the patriarchal is playing a very big role in making decision for women.

So that is why also it is very important to ensure that now women are being included in the decision-making spaces to ensure that when it comes to the produce, to the farming, to the market, women voices neeneed to be allowed there. And alsoalso, to ensure that now, women are also being included in the decision. So to me, I think that this space has been powerful. And again, it is important to identify our struggles and the challenges we face, because we both have the issues of women not accessing land at some point. And this also has led a lot to the issue of women may be getting into more debt. So that is why I was talking about the issue of microcredits and the issues of debts.

So, we realise that this also is bringing a lot of oppression to women, because if a woman cannot access land, and then she’s playing a major role in the food production system, it shows how the patriarchal system is operating. So, I think we need to have a collective voice to ensure that we are pushing for the women’s voices, and to ensure that women are included in the decision-making spaces. Thank you.”

Way Forward: Building Power Through Collective Rural Women’s Action

The RWA webinar on the International Day of Peasant Struggles 2025 brought together nearly 600 women to reflect on and reinforce the struggles for land, seed, water, and climate justice. Drawing from the discussions, the following key action points emerged:

1. Popularise and Localise UNDROP

• Participants called for stronger political education on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP).
• Women emphasised the need to translate UNDROP into local languages, break it down into practical tools, and use it in community organising and land rights struggles.
• Rural women must be supported to engage with the UN Working Group on UNDROP, including by submitting grassroots experiences and violations for inclusion in future reports.

2. Fight for Land and Seed Sovereignty

• Women across the region shared urgent concerns about patriarchy, customary land denial, and corporate seed control.
• The “smart subsidy” seed programs in Lesotho and hybrid seed restrictions were raised as examples of how peasants are being locked out of their own food systems.
• There was a resounding call to defend peasant seed systems, reclaim traditional knowledge, and resist the criminalisation of seed saving.

3. Advance Feminist Agroecology and Climate Justice

• Rural women demanded recognition of their role as frontline responders to the climate crisis and called for support for agroecology rooted in feminist and Indigenous knowledge.
• Movements were urged to challenge top-down, profit-driven climate solutions and instead promote community-led environmental justice.

4. Demand State Accountability and Policy Change

• The absence of African governments in key UNDROP sessions was noted with deep concern.
• Participants committed to mobilising at national level to demand that governments implement UNDROP provisions—especially those on land with water, seeds, and participation.
• Women called for legal support and partnerships to challenge land dispossession in courts, and to document cases of rights violations.
• There was strong support to deepen cross-country learning, coordinate advocacy, and occupy regional and global policy spaces.

6. Centre Rural Women’s Voices in Policy and Advocacy

• Speakers insisted that no decision about peasants, food, or land should be made without rural women.
• Grassroots testimonies confirmed the urgent need to amplify women’s political voices at every level—from local councils to international negotiations.