Topic: 2024-Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Spain
Delegate Name: Liberty Scanlin
Topic: Gender Equality in Rural Areas
Country: Spain
Committee: UN Women
Delegate Name: Liberty Scanlin
School: New Prairie High School
Gender equality is a prevalent issue within rural communities. The lack of opportunities
for women, the discrimination rampant in these areas, as well as the poor quality of
health care, have all contributed to a mass exodus of women from rural communities to
more urban areas in the past few years. Spain recognizes the importance of acting to
alleviate these stressors in order to protect the development of rural communities.
Spain acknowledges the need for reformation to occur to improve the opportunities
there for women and aid gender equality in rural areas. A focus needs to be put on
improving infrastructure and available opportunities for women within rural areas.
Spain supports efforts such as improving access to education, healthcare facilities, and
social services, so that women can better envision staying in rural areas to raise their
children. A main cause of women moving to urban areas is to find better opportunities
available for education, leisure, and work for both them and their families, and targeting
rural areas’ infrastructural development is a key process in addressing this issue. Spain
prioritizes working towards the goal of improving these types of infrastructure
development within rural communities to improve the retention rate of women there.
Spain emphasizes three main proposals to help combat gender inequality in rural areas.
The first proposal is to continue awareness campaigns to spread awareness about the
issues women experience in rural areas. Societal change is accelerated by speaking out
about the issues women face in rural areas. The second proposal regards continuing to
improve educational program access within rural areas. One preexisting program that
helps with this initiative is WIPO’s (World Intellectual Property Organization)
intellectual property educational programs that are catered to Spanish women in rural
areas. Programs like this teach rural women how to monetize their artisan skills within
their communities. These two continuations of existing programs and policies help to
advocate for and improve career access for women in rural areas. A policy Spain believes
could be implemented is the institution of new social programs such as childcare in
rural areas. Improving rural communities’ access to programs such as childcare allows
women to focus on their education and makes rural areas a place where women want to
stay.
Spain is looking forward to collaborating with delegates from UN Women to discuss
international efforts to address gender equality in rural areas.
Works Cited
Cobano-Delgado, Veronica, and Vicente Lorent-Bedmar. “Women’s Well-Being and Rural
Development in Depopulated Spain.” International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 17 Mar. 2020,
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7143739/.
“Empowering Rural Resilience in Spain: WIPO’s Initiative for Women Artisans in Spain’s
Abandoned Landscapes.” WIPO, 2024,
www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/stories/spain-women-rural-artisans-2024.html.
“Exteriores.” Https://Www.Exteriores.Gob.Es/, 2021,
www.exteriores.gob.es/es/ServiciosAlCiudadano/PublicacionesOficiales/2021_02_POLITICA%
20EXTERIOR%20FEMINISTA_ENG.pdf.
Robin.salter. “Spain’s Commitment to Support Women in Rural Areas.” AEIDL, 22 July 2022,
www.aeidl.eu/news/news/spains-commitment-to-support-women-in-rural-areas/.
“Spain – English.Doc.” Www.UN.Org,
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Review/responses/SPAIN-English.pdf. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
