The Malawi Rural Women Assembly joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of the Peasant\’s Struggle as a means of bringing attention to the challenges of peasants and others that have been made worse by gender-based violence against women and girls.
On this day, the RWA recognizes the critical role that peasants and other rural workers, such as small farmers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers, landless rural workers, and indigenous people, play in sustaining food systems globally and feeding communities.While the RWA works to end gender-based violence against women and girls, they also demand that women have the right to access justice, equal opportunities for employment at the national level, and education, as well as the right to own and control land and a safe, healthy environment in society.
The International Day of Peasant\’s Struggle draws attention to all groups, organizations, and other agencies that are fighting for women in ending gender-based violence, and RWA further stated that women in rural areas face many challenges. As a result, this day has given all rural women in Malawi a platform to express their views on the struggles they encounter in various communities.
The right to food, food sovereignty, a sufficient quality of living, access to seeds, land, and other natural resources, as well as a safe, clean, and healthy environment, are all part of the peasant\’s rights. In order to ensure that rural life can recover and food systems are preserved after a conflict, RWA demands that these rights be maintained and upheld at all times, not only in peacetime.
According to RWA, hunger and extreme poverty have long had a disproportionately negative impact on Malawi\’s peasant population, which primarily consists of women, girls, and young people. Peasants continue to face significant difficulties, such as a lack of food, housing, and clean, hygienic water, even in the wake of the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy. In the midst of this extreme suffering, peasants, rural workers, and indigenous peoples all throughout Malawi have strengthened their bonds of solidarity with one another, ensuring that their communities and their food systems remain healthy.
