On this International Women’s Day, we bring you a photo essay about Indigenous and rural women and their innate connection to nature. Women’s rights and gender equality are crucial for not just women, but also for their communities and the environment. Women play a key role in the conservation of biodiversity and forests. A growing body of evidence shows that increasing women’s leadership in natural resource management and governance is not only beneficial for biodiversity but also empowers women, increases their livelihood opportunities, improves their ability to plan for their families and results in positive outcomes for their communities.

Across the world, women are often the principle caretakers of their families and responsible for important tasks like energy generation; collection of food, water and medicine; seed saving; and generating income for their families. Hence, with the loss of biodiversity and forests, women are disproportionally affected, bearing increased burdens to make ends meet. Women are also often excluded from decision-making and prevented from owning key resources like land. Many national policies also exhibit patriarchal and discriminatory attitudes (e.g. patrimonial land inheritance). On this Women’s Day, let us be reminded that the struggle for women’s rights is far from over and more crucial than ever.

link to this article : http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/43778-indigenous-and-rural-women-conserve-mother-earth-and-empower-their-communities