Women and men play key roles with respect to environmental protection and social and economic development in mountain areas. Women are often the primary managers of mountain resources, guardians of biodiversity and the main actors in terms of agriculture, animal husbandry and other small scale economic activities. In mountain communities, women are keepers of traditional knowledge, custodians of local culture and experts in traditional medicine.
However, women mountain dwellers are often invisible and their voices go unheard. They rarely participate in decisions affecting the management and use of local resources; they often lack basic rights, have little access to ownership and land tenure rights, education, health services and training. Since women and girls have less access to household resources, they are at a greater risk of hunger and malnutrition.
As men migrate to lowlands areas or abroad in search of better income, women are left to manage the farm and household and participate in small trade and income-earning activities. Yet lack of access to credit hampers efforts to improve or expand their farm activities and earn cash incomes. Inaccessibility shapes the lives of mountain communities. Further, the challenges men and women face in mountain regions is intensified by altitude, steep terrain and isolation.
In 2022 and 2023, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat teamed up with the Feminist Hiking Collective – a non-profit organization and transnational hub for feminist hikers, and a member of the Mountain Partnership – on a social research project to identify the main challenges faced by mountain women and support their collective power, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic recovery.
In-depth interviews were conducted with 313 mountain women in Argentina, Chile, Italy, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, the Plurinational State of Bolivia and the United Republic of Tanzania. The result of this collaboration was the publication of two reports, Mountain women of the world – Challenges, resilience and collective power and Mountain women of the world – Shaping change for the common good.
The Feminist Hiking Collective and the Mountain Women of the World Network are producing a documentary series on their interviews with the women in each country. Watch the videos here:
Empowering indigenous womennewsOn 12-13 January 2018 during the High Level Forum “Empower indigenous women to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in America Latina and the Caribbean”, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched the advocacy campaign "Make them visible, empower them". The campaign seeks to increase the... Read more » |
MP members' statement for CSW62 acceptedpeak to peakIssue 113 – Month 3 – Year 2018 The March issue of Peak to Peak opens with a news about Mountain Parternship members' joint written statement being accepted for presentation during the upcoming 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62). The newsletter continues with stories... Download » |
Mountains and cities, rural-urban dynamicsnewsOn 5-8 February 2017, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy, hosted a workshop on rural-urban dynamics. The workshop “Feeding the cities: promoting food security and nutrition in an urbanizing world” was organized by the Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor... Read more » |
Study on Collection and Utilisation of Minor Forest Produces by Mountain WomenpublicationThe study was conducted on 107 women villagers from four villages in Dhanaulti in Uttarakhand, India for qualitative and quantitative measurement of collection and utilisation of Minor Forest Produces (MFP) by women. Mountain women regularly collect fuelwood, fodder grass, leaves and vegetables, fruits and flowers, medicinal plants and branches from... Download » |
2017 Italian Mountains Report launchednewsThe Rapporto Montagne Italia 2017 (2017 Italian Mountains Report) was presented on 30 January 2018 in the House of Commons in Rome. Now in its third edition, the report is produced annually by the Italian Mountain Foundation, which is made up by the National Organization of Mountain Municipalities,...
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15 years of Mountain PartnershippublicationThis publication celebrates the work of the Mountain Partnership - the only United Nations alliance dedicated to improving the lives of mountain communities and their ecosystems - over 15 years. It profiles key players, charts the achievements at global, regional and national level, and showcases success stories around the world.... Download » |
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