Our Story

Borne of the women’s continued resistance against imperialist globalization was the Asian Rural Women’s Regional Consultation held in the Philippines in 2007 (of 52 Asian women from 14 countries) followed by the Asian Rural Women’s Conference in 2008 held in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu, India. The 2008 conference forged unity among the 700 rural women leaders, national women’s groups, regional networks representing peasants, agricultural workers, indigenous women, Dalit women, workers and migrants from around 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific. These processes paved the way in the formation of the Asian Rural Women’s Coalition (ARWC) in March 2008.

From then to present, ARWC had immensely contributed in putting forward the struggle for rights and interests of rural women in Asia, through supporting initiatives of Asian women within their countries (supporting advocacy work and local/national consultations, eg the State-level Conference of Dalit Women in India; GABRIELA’s national-level consultations); sharing information at the regional and international levels thru the ARWC list serve; and linking struggles of Asian rural women including active participation in regional and international fora, conferences and formations (recently, the formation of the International Women’s Alliance). In July 2010, ARWC co-sponsored the Conference on Women Resisting Crisis and War: A conference on the impacts and women’s responses to the economic and climate crises and war of the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN). In August 2010, ARWC also became active during the Montreal International Women’s Conference. ARWC is also engaged in the international policy advocacy work through the Civil Society Forum of the FAO’s Committee on Food Security and developing the CSO’s Guideline on Land and Natural Resources Tenure for the FAO.