On 16 October 2008, FAO celebrated World Food Day with a parallel event entitled “­Women have solutions to the food crisis: towards long-term structural changes”. This issue of the Dimitra newsletter focuses in particular on how – in an international context of rising food prices and raw material shortages – the livelihoods of the poorest populations, and of women in particular, are inextricably linked to their rights and their economic, political and social status within their community or country.