Rural Women Celebrated at IDRW Forum

A forum, suitably titled ‘Rural Girls Rock’, was hosted by the Bureau of Gender Affairs at the Portland-based College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) in honour of International Day of Rural Women (IDRW) 2024.

The event was held on Wednesday (October 16), inside the T.P Lecky Hall at the institution, under the theme ‘Empowering Rural Women: Achieving a Sustainable Future’.

Acting Director for the Community Liaison Unit at the Bureau of Gender Affairs, Nardia McLaren, reminded the young women that, “girls are change-makers, girls are trailblazers, and girls are responsible for changing a generation”.

Ms. McLaren said that rural women are convincing and are able to, in Jamaican terms, “tun dem han and mek fashion”.

The day’s Empowerment Speaker was National Farm Queen 2024 and CASE student, Victoria Lynch, who made an impassioned appeal for rural girls to work hard and pursue their dreams.

Using the acronym DREAM, Ms. Lynch listed the essential elements for achieving goals as Desire, Rising above challenges, Explore, Achieve and Motivate.

She also related her own journey of realising her dream of becoming the National Farm Queen.

“The moment I was crowned National Farm Queen, I felt a great sense of achievement. It was a rewarding feeling stepping out of my comfort zone and doing well. This is what achieving your goals is like,” Ms. Lynch said.

Enthused faces were observed in the audience, including final-year Agricultural Education student, Samantha Hutchinson.

“It’s good to be here and to be a part of International Day of Rural Women, seeing that I am from the rural area. The presentations, so far, have been great,” she told JIS News.
Ms. Hutchinson, who is from Clarendon, asserted that the statement ‘Rural Girls Rock’ is true, because “we are strong, vibrant and have a lot of potential… . We are leaders; we love to be independent”.

Portland native, Janita Edwards, who is also a final-year Agricultural Education student, said that the event appealed to her for many reasons.

“I heard about empowering rural women and I am all about empowering rural women. I believe in the statement ‘rural girls rock’, because I think we are resilient and we are powerful and we can achieve anything we put our minds to,” she said.

There were also creative presentations during the forum, which saw some of the students participating in various talent pieces.

This was followed by the presentation of prizes.

Nationally, activities to celebrate IDRW 2024 began on October 4 with tree- planting activities in Manchester, St. Elizabeth and St. Catherine.

There was also a Sustainability Hike on October 5 in Manchester, a Health and Information Fair in Clarendon on October 9, an International Day of the Girl Child event on October 11, a Commemorative Church Service in St. Thomas on October 13, and a FarmHers Market in Kingston on October 15.

Next on the schedule of activities are a Financial Literacy Workshop on October 23 at the Ocho Rios Baptist Church, in St. Ann, and an IDRW Banner Event on Friday, October 25, at the Sean Lavery Hall, in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland.

IDRW is celebrated annually on October 15, and aims to highlight the role and situation of women in rural areas.