Investing in Skills for Socio-economic Empowerment of Rural Women

Higher barriers in education and training limit rural women's participation in better remunerated jobs and leadership roles in the development of their communities, according to this policy brief. It highlights the need to widen skills development opportunities for women as a strategy for: improving rural productivity, employability, and income-earning opportunities; enhancing food security; and promoting environmentally sustainable rural development and livelihoods. The brief was published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The opening portion examines why skills development is particularly important to rural women. For example, social norms play a role: Some household decision makers have negative attitudes towards educating girls and give lower priority to girls' education. In addition, vocational education and training for rural women are often limited to a narrow range of female-dominated fields that reinforce their traditional roles and responsibilities, limiting the chances to benefit from newer, non-traditional fields, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Policy options are outlined:

1. Stimulate participation in basic education with gender-sensitive approaches - This includes actions such as offering gender-awareness training to teachers, sharing information to raise parents’ awareness about the importance of educating girls, involving families and communities in planning and managing rural education systems, and developing gender-sensitive curricula to improve the classroom environment and dismantle stereotyped profiles of rural women and men. Examples are provided in text boxes with the Policy Brief, such as a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) programme that involves home counselling to help keep girls in school in Cambodia.
2. Ensure that targeted education and training strategies are included in national policies - This involves steps such as developing a gender-responsive strategy for education, training, and entrepreneurship development that responds to the needs of girls and women, as well as establishing mechanisms to plan and evaluate education and training programmes.
3. Increase participation in gender-aware technical and vocational education and training in rural areas - Many specific suggestions are offered. For instance, one option would be to develop curricula that take into account the different kinds of local or indigenous knowledge and skills that rural women have and to complement them with up-to-date knowledge and technology, such as mobile training units, extension schemes, and distance learning using mobile phones, radio, and the internet. A text box points to the FAO's Education for Rural People Partnership (ERP) Toolkit, which provides education and training materials for extension staff, farmers, teachers, trainers and children, youth, and adult learners involved in formal and non-formal rural education. It contains children's books and cartoons, skill manuals, and planning guides.
4. Support women's self-employment and encourage linkages between national training systems and socio-professional networks - A text box here describes ILO's Training for Rural Economic Empowerment (TREE) initiative, which draws on planning with local partner institutions as one of its strategies. An example of the resulting work is provided: "In rural Pakistan, where social norms restricted women's participation in training outside their homes, female resource persons went to villages and trained rural women at home. The increased income-generating activities of trainees also generated greater respect for women in the community and many experienced increased mobility, self-esteem and socioeconomic empowerment."

Click here for the 4-page brief in PDF format (English).
Click here for the 4-page brief in PDF format (Spanish).
Click here for the 4-page brief in PDF format (French).