The NFU Stands in Solidarity with Women and Gender Diverse Farmers and Farm Workers of the World
March 8th International Women’s Day and International Year of the Woman Farmer
On March 8th, International Women’s Day, and in recognition of the International Year of the Woman Farmer, the National Farmers Union of Canada (NFU) expresses deep solidarity with women and gender diverse food producers around the world. As members of the global La Via Campesina movement for food sovereignty, we echo calls for collective action to eliminate violence against women, girls and gender diverse peoples — action that is fundamental to food sovereignty.
“The International Year of the Woman Farmer is an opportunity to highlight struggles for gender equity and equality in agriculture and in rural communities”, says Cady Foreman, a farmer from Ontario and NFU Women’s President. “For the NFU, this means doing all we can to draw attention to the epidemic of Intimate Partner Violence/Gender Based Violence (IPV/GBV) and take part in transformative change to create safer communities for everyone.”
Globally, women farmers, farm workers, peasants, Indigenous women and other gender diverse food providers produce the majority of the food that feeds communities. Women and gender diverse producers make crucial contributions to food and agriculture systems, often producing for local consumption and organizing within cooperative and solidarity economies. They do so despite having unequal access to land and resources and facing heightened levels of gender based violence in the countryside.
In an effort to be part of transformative change, the NFU membership has committed to a national campaign calling on public leaders to commit to a systemic response to address the root problem of IPV/GBV, and to provide survivors with the resources they need. The NFU has long recognized that gender based violence is not a private, domestic issue but a social one — the result of systemic injustices, including the unequal distribution of power and resources in the agri-food system.
“The dominant agri-food system is part of the epidemic of IPV/GBV,” explained Summer Hansell, Manitoba farmer and NFU Women’s Vice President. “As the corporate capture of profits in the agricultural economy fuels the farm income crisis, debt and insecurity, we are seeing an increase in the kind of relational instability that leads to violence. The massive concentration of land and wealth in agriculture is defunding rural communities. Our communities are in decline and it is becoming more difficult to access key services, including services for survivors of IPV/GBV.”
Across Canada/Turtle Island, IPV/GBV are on the rise. From 2018 to 2023, in northern communities, intimate partner violence increased by 21 percent, in the rural south, by 17 percent, and in the urban south, by 12 percent. Rates of family violence have also increased in all regions from 2018 to 2023 (here). IPV is highest among LGBTQ+ women, Indigenous women and women living in poverty (here). Settler colonialism has led to Indigenous women and girls experiencing particularly high rates of violence (here).
The farm household, workplace and the lands protected by Indigenous nations are also important sites for alternatives that affirm food sovereignty. By focusing on the wellbeing of people and nature, food sovereignty values women’s reproductive labour and the care and solidarity economy within which they have significant influence. Food sovereignty can also improve human relationships by strengthening rural economies, bolstering local and regional food production, embracing biological and human diversity, and putting knowledge and control in the hands of women and communities. On this International Women’s Day, and in recognition of the International Year of the Woman Farmer, we join with women internationally to celebrate our diversity and our contributions to sustaining life.
NFU member Mandy Melnyk walking her fields
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For more information, please contact:
Cady Foreman, NFU Women’s President: womenspresident@nfu.ca
Summer Hansell, Women’s Vice-President: womensvp@nfu.ca
