Rural women play a fundamental role in the conservation of nature and the socio-economic development of communities and nations. However, their challenges are broad and deep-seated. Women throughout the world have to face major violations of their rights daily. Poverty, violence, wage gaps, limits to their participation in decision-making processes, and access to financing, to name just a few, are still the reality for many girls, youth, and adult women. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, the rural population in Latin America and the Caribbean corresponded to about 21 percent of the population in 2015 and represented just over 129 million people distributed in 33 countries. Of this total, almost half are women; and of these, about 20 percent belong to indigenous peoples. In Costa Rica, according to the 2014 Agricultural Census, the country has 80,987 agricultural producers, of which 84.4 percent are men and 15.6 percent women and of the total registered producers, only 13.5 percent expressed have received funding. Of this total, 12.1 percent are men and 1.4 percent are women.

In Río Jesús de Santiago, San Ramón Costa Rica, 23 women took a leap of faith and started working with organic agriculture and native stingless honey bee production.