Notimex joins the #MujeresRurales, mujeres con derechos campaign (#RuralWomen, women with rights)
Notimex will produce and disseminate news content to raise awareness about rural women's key role in achieving sustainable development.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Mexico congratulates Notimex for its decision to join the regional campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean, #MujeresRurales, mujeres con derechos.
Alejandro Ramos Esquivel, Chief Executive Officer of Notimex, expressed the agency’s interest in releasing news about the multilateral entity’s activities, as part of its social effort to support vulnerable minority groups, such as rural women in Mexico. These women represent a large percentage of the population, and they also assume responsibility as heads of families due to the high rate of male migration.
Because of its potential scope in communication media and through social networks in Mexico and worldwide, Notimex is the perfect vehicle for reporting on successful production projects that receive technical support from FAO to drive its scope. Thus, more women, families and communities will know about the programs and, therefore, the development possibilities. For example, from agriculture for self-consumption, to being part of a production chain that drives its surroundings.
Fernando Soto Baquero, the FAO Representative in Mexico, said that in order for the international entity to reduce gender inequality and to invest in opportunities for rural women, it is essential to eradicate nutritional deficiency, malnutrition, and to develop sustainable food systems.
“The roles that rural women must play are countless, and include being farmers, unpaid family agricultural workers, day labourers, entrepreneurs in non-agricultural economic activities and domestic work, while also being mothers, wives, companions and daughters. Much of this work usually goes unrecognized and is not considered to be an economic contribution to the family or to society, although these women might work up to 14 hours a day," said Soto Baquero.
This is why FAO congratulates Notimex, the leading news agency in Mexico and the top communication vehicle in the region, for joining the campaign to highlight the role of rural women, their current status and rights, and to empower them.
The campaign #MujeresRurales, mujeres con derechos, is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a product of discussions held during the First Conference on Rural Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (Brasilia, 2014) and the XIII Regional Women’s Conference (Montevideo, 2016), and based on the experiences of two previous campaigns on the empowerment of rural women and their communities.