Article 14 of CEDAW (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw) which pertains particularly to
rural women, provides :
“State Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against
women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they
participate in and benefit from rural development.” It further states women’s rights, some
of which are as follows:
● “To have access to adequate health care facilities, including information, counselling and
services in family planning;
● To benefit directly from social security programmes;
● To obtain all types of training and education, formal and non-formal, including that
relating to functional literacy, as well as, inter alia, the benefit of all community and
extension services, in order to increase their technical proficiency;
● To have access to agricultural credit and loans, marketing facilities, appropriate
technology and equal treatment in land and agrarian reform as well as in land
resettlement schemes;
● To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation,
electricity and water supply, transport and communications.”
In addition to Art. 14 of CEDAW, General Recommendation No. 34 on the rights of rural women
(CEDAW/C/GC/34) states specific propositions on how State Parties can protect the rights of
rural women. Some of the recommendations to State Parties are as follows:
● “Ensure that legal frameworks are non-discriminatory and guarantee access to justice to
rural women.
● Address specific threats posed to rural women by climate change, natural disasters, land
and soil degradation, water pollution, droughts, floods, desertification, pesticides and
agro-chemicals, extractive industries, monocultures, bio-piracy, and loss of biodiversity,
particularly agro-biodiversity. They should alleviate and mitigate these threats and
ensure that rural women enjoy a safe, clean and healthy environment.
● Uphold extraterritorial obligations with respect to rural women, inter alia, by: not
interfering, directly or indirectly, with the enjoyment of their rights; taking regulatory
measures to prevent any actor under their jurisdiction, including private individuals,
companies and public entities, from infringing or abusing the rights of rural women
outside their territory; and, ensuring that international cooperation and development
assistance, whether bilateral or multilateral, advance the rights of rural women outside
their territory. Appropriate and effective remedies should be available to affected rural
women when a State party has violated its extraterritorial obligations.
● Eliminate all forms of discrimination against disadvantaged and marginalized groups of
rural women. For example, State parties should ensure that disadvantaged and
marginalized groups of rural women including indigenous; afro-descendent; ethnic and
religious minorities; female heads of household; peasant; pastoralists; fisherfolk;
landless; migrant; and conflict-affected rural women are protected from intersecting
forms of discrimination and have access to education, employment, water and
sanitation, health care, etc.
● Fully incorporate the right to decent conditions of work and the principle of equal pay for
work of equal value in their legal and policy frameworks, paying special attention to the
situation and labour force representation of rural women.
● Address the root causes of trafficking by economically empowering rural women and by
raising awareness within rural areas on the risks of being lured by traffickers and the
ways in which traffickers operate.
● Take steps to prevent and prohibit child and/or forced marriage of rural girls and
women.
● Safeguard rural women’s and girls’ right to adequate health care and ensure that quality
health care services and facilities are physically accessible and affordable for rural
women, including older women, female heads of household, and women with disabilities
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