CEDAW/C/GC/34 IV. State party obligations in relation to specific dimensions of the rights of rural women A. Right to participate in and benefit from rural development (art. 14, para. 2 (a)) 35. Rural women must be regarded as drivers of sustainable development. Notwithstanding the vital role of rural women in agriculture and rural development, policies and initiatives are often not gender-responsive and rural women often do not benefit from enabling frameworks. The rights of rural women are also often not taken into consideration in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts in conflict and post-conflict environments. 36. States parties should establish enabling institutional, legal and policy frameworks to ensure that rural development, agricultural and water policies, including with respect to forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, are gender-responsive and have adequate budgets. States parties should ensure: (a) The integration and mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, plans (including operational plans) and programmes, enabling rural women to act and be visible as stakeholders, decision makers and beneficiaries, in line with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on political and public life and the Sustainable Development Goals. States parties should ensure that those policies, strategies, plans and programmes have evidence-based monitoring and clear evaluation frameworks; (b) The establishment of gender units with senior-level staff in ministries relevant to rural development, supported by adequate budgets, institutional procedures, accountability frameworks and effective coordination mechanisms; (c) The protection of the rights of rural women, specifically when planning rural development programmes linked to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts in conflict and post-conflict environments, in line with general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations. B. Health-care services (art. 14, para. 2 (b), read alongside art. 12) 37. Access to health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, is often extremely limited for rural women, including older women and women with disabilities, owing to prevailing social norms and patriarchal attitudes, insufficient budget allocations to rural health services, the lack of infrastructure and trained personnel, the lack of information on modern methods of contraception, remoteness and the lack of transport. The lack of access to adequate food and nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation and waste management facilities results in increased health risks. Some conditions, such as obstetric fistula, are also more prevalent among rural women and result directly from the lack of access to emergency health 10/25 16-03601