Empowering Women Farmers in Rwanda

I learnt a lot from this article by Media Global about the incredible work that Women for Women International is doing in Rwanda.
http://www.mediaglobal.org/article/2010-03-06/women-in-rwanda-promote-holistic-development-through-financial-indpendence-and-rights-awareness
I thought this quote, from Zainab Salbi, CEO of WFWI, was particularly thought-provoking and very simply put.

"... women are 70 percent of the farmers in the world, producing 50 percent of the food in the world, and actually about 90 percent of the major staples in the world, earning only 10 percent of the income and owning less than 2 percent of the land. So there’s a problem here.”

The idea that women can, in time, come to have more control and autonomy over their work, and in turn have a sustainable income is the kind of thing that will go a long way towards creating a better life for many people in the developing world. I have so much respect for the work that Women for Women International does. It reminds me of one of the central thoughts in Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, that if you educate a woman, she will likely stay in her village and educate the next generation, whereas (and I realise this is something of a generalisation) a man is more likely to take the education he got and go to a bigger town to create a new life for himself.