This year the theme for International Women's Day is “Women and men united to end violence against women and girls”.

Gender-based violence is a pervasive, affecting public health and human rights throughout the world. It is aggravated during times of conflict or economic crisis. Anyone can experience gender-based violence, but women and girls are more frequently the target than men and boys. Men may be victims or perpetrators of gender-based violence, but they can also be agents of change.

International Women’s Day International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on 8 March. While there is often a global theme, each country or group celebrating the day can choose their own different theme to make the day more relevant locally.  For example, this year, the global United Nations theme is Women and men united to end violence against women and girls, but in Wales, the Welsh Assembly government’s theme is Bridging the Generational Gap. In Canada, the Federal Government’s theme is Status of Women: Strong Leadership. Strong Women. Strong World: Equality.

Gender-based violence against women – female infanticide sexual trafficking and exploitation, dowry and honour killings, and domestic violence – causes more death and disability among women in the 15-44 age-group than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined, according to the Centre for Women Policy Studies.

There is a strong correlation between poverty and gender-based violence, and a significant economic cost. A study in India showed that those who have been subjected to gender-based violence lose approximately seven days of work after each incident. While a study in South Africa showed that women who were beaten by male partners were 48% more likely to become infected with HIV.

But higher incomes and access to property decreases risks of domestic violence. When women have more economic power, they also have more social standing in their communities. They are less likely to be victims and better able to protect their daughters.

IFAD invests in women and girls around the world
IFAD works in some of the poorest rural areas in the world. Many IFAD-supported programmes and projects have a special focus on women. The aim is to empower women economically by giving them access to capital, markets and greater income-earning opportunities. IFAD also seeks to strengthen their decision-making roles by helping them to organise for collective action.

Belonging to an organisation or self-held group also increase women’s confidence, and enables them to have a stronger voice in community affairs, to oppose violence and abuse. In IFAD-supported projects, gender training and sensitisation is provided to both women and men, recognising the importance of winning men’s support for women’s empowerment.

IFAD programmes and projects work to:

• Increase women’s access to key assets such as land and water
• Strengthen women’s decision-making role within their communities
• Improve women’s and girls’ well-being and their access to education

IFAD supports development activities that target poor women in all regions of the developing world. 

In China, the Sichuan Integrated Development Project significantly improved education and health conditions for women and girls. Illiteracy among women fell from 13.8 per cent to 4.5 per cent, and the school drop-out rate for girls fell from 5.1 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Infant malnutrition and mortality rates also fell.

In Colombia, the Rural Micro-enterprise Development Project supported the development of rural businesses as a way of increasing incomes for poor landless people, especially households headed by single women. As a result of this project, women have gained greater access to markets and created better living conditions for themselves and their families.

Over the past 30 years, 30 million women and children have been trafficked for sexual exploitation (UN). An estimated 130 million women have undergone Female Genital Mutilation. (Centre for reproductive Rights) Rape has been defined as a crime against humanity and is frequent in war. It is estimated than between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the genocide in Rwanda.

In Pakistan, an IFAD-funded project has pioneered a new approach to rural financing for women that overcomes strong gender bias, and conforms to Islamic lending regulations. The Dir Area Support Project has enabled women to set up microenterprises, such as dairy farming, making handicrafts and selling groceries and clothes. The women formed organizations through which they received loans and support for their enterprises. Many have been able to make dramatic improvements to their families' well-being, building new homes and paying for their children's education.

Through its grants programme, IFAD has financed research on emerging issues and innovative practices related to gender equality and the empowerment of women. For example, through a joint project with the International Rice Research Institute, IFAD has supported research on labour-saving technologies for women in rice production.

IFAD has implemented specific regional gender mainstreaming programmes. The Gender Mainstreaming Programme in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States region showed that poor rural women respond immediately to employment opportunities. The programme strengthened the gender focus of IFAD-supported projects by boosting women’s enterprises in six countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova.

Working with the poorest rural households, the programme provided women with training and financial assistance to stimulate small-scale enterprises. It encouraged them to take an active part in community development, and it invested in various women’s businesses creating job opportunities in such sectors as dairy production, textiles, medicinal plant processing and horticulture.

Women and the land In many rural societies, economic hardship is prompting men to leave the land. Increasingly, women are the farmers of the developing world. In Asia, women contribute about 65 per cent of food production; in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the figure is around 80 per cent. Yet women often have weak land rights, or are denied rights entirely, resulting in increased poverty for themselves and their families. Monica is a 34-year-old widow from Kuria, in the Nyanza province of Kenya. She was 28 and the mother of six children when her husband died. Because of family tradition and land customs, in which land is passed on to future generations through the family or clan, she had to fight to keep a plot of land to grow food for her children. “I had 1.5 acres when my husband was alive. After he died, my brothers-in-law grabbed one acre and built a hut on the remaining half acre,” she said. “I went to the chief for help, who explained that he would need the elders to make a decision. My brother gave them 500 shillings as payment. The chief and elders walked around my boundaries and said my brothers-in-law should give me back the land. At first my brother-in-law agreed, but as soon as the chief and elders left, he told me to get off the land and if I were to come back I would lose my neck. If they make this kind of threat, they see it through.” Customary land tenure systems prevail in most of the areas in which IFAD works. In Kenya and elsewhere, IFAD is working with local leaders to help them recognize and enforce the original intention of the tradition to protect women’s rights. IFAD has learned that defending women’s rights requires comprehensive action on many levels. Women need to know their rights. They often need help with legal assistance and advocacy. And they need to learn how to strengthen their voices by working collectively.