2019-10-15 Tue

Observed on October the 15th, International Day of Rural Women celebrates and honors the role of rural women. The day was declared by The United Nations’ to recognize rural women’s importance in enhancing agricultural and rural development worldwide.

The idea of honoring rural women with a special day was put forward at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995. The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on October 15, 2008. This day recognizes the role of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

It was suggested that October 15 be celebrated as “World Rural Women’s Day,” which is the eve of World Food Day, to highlight rural women’s role in food production and food security. “World Rural Women’s Day” was previously celebrated across the world for more than a decade before it was officially a UN observance.

Every year the day is celebrated with different themes. Rural women and girls play a significant role in agriculture, food security and nutrition, land and natural resource management and unpaid and domestic care work. Hence, this year’s theme of International Day of Rural Women is “Rural women and girls building climate resilience”.

The stamp shown above is a definitive stamp issued by India Post in the year 1979. The stamp was issued with the denomination of 30 paise and depicts rural women from the interiors of Maharashtra working in the rice field.

Visit philamart to view and purchase variety of stamps from all over the world.