CFS Celebrates Women Around the World
Look around you. How many of the people in your life are strong, capable women whose resilience and compassion have changed your perspective or influenced your life experiences? Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate women all around the world. And people all around the world will be doing that in different ways. Some, who are fortunate and able, will be participating in A Day Without A Woman. But days like these are most important because the truth is most women do not have the luxury to “take the day off”.
We here at Center for Food Safety are glad to take today as an opportunity to highlight the incredible dedication and fortitude of the many women who are the backbone of the food movement and our global agricultural system. The women in our lives and in our world provide sustenance of all kinds – they feed our families and they feed our souls. Read on and check out the links below for just a few of the ways how, and to hear the stories of some incredible women.
Did you know??
1. Women represent 43% of the agricultural workforce in the developing world.
2. Women in agriculture produce more than 50% of the world’s food, and are responsible for some 60% to 80% of food production in developing countries.
3. Globally, 1.6 billion women rely on farming for their livelihoods, which means that women’s land ownership is vital.
Read on for 15 more reasons to celebrate women in agriculture.
Women promoting food equity in their local communities
Larissa Walker and Madeleine Carnemark of the CFS Pollinator team meet at K Street Farm to talk to Kate Lee, Farm Director DC Greens.
Rachel Carson, compassionate leader of the modern environmental movement
Decades ago in her seminal book, Silent Spring, Carson was among the first to warn about the acute human health and ecological dangers of the pesticides that were becoming more and more ubiquitous through the country. In her last years while fighting breast cancer, Carson not only finished her bestseller but also she dedicated herself to promoting awareness of the connections between poisoning our planet and poisoning ourselves.
PBS recently aired a documentary that provides an intimate portrait of Carson.
Rural women farmers are critical to our food system
Rural women farmers, in particular, have the opportunity to shape a global food system in response to the needs of a growing population and a changing planet, but they need support. For example, it has been proven that women tend to farm more on smaller plots of land utilizing fewer resources, creating more sustainable farms. At the same time, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that global agricultural yields would increase between 2.5 and four percent if female farmers had the same opportunities and resources as their male counterparts. When thinking in terms of food security, that is a significant change in the amount of food produced... Read More.
And here are some great groups that promote women in ag.
Check out some of our favorite amazing women protecting and improving our food, agriculture, and environment and share these images on Facebook! Just click on any image to share it on your Facebook page.
"‹
