Living Layered, Leading Forward 

Across rural communities worldwide, women play vital roles in agriculture while also carrying responsibilities at home and in their communities. This International Women’s Day, we highlight the stories of women farmers whose daily work sustains families, strengthens rural livelihoods, and contributes to global food security.

Before sunrise reaches the soil, the first role of the day has already begun.

In Sin Kyone Village, Myanmar, Khin Than Win cooks for her family, takes children to school, and then heads to the fields. 

“I have to take the lead in everything,” she explains. “I handle all the housework myself. I’m the one who goes to the plantation, and I’m the one who earns the money.”

Her day does not divide neatly between home and farm; it stretches across both, layered with responsibility.

For Khin Than Win, her many roles unfold long before the work in the fields begins, caring for family, leading the household, and preparing to nourish the land.

This is what it means to live layered.

Across rural landscapes, women are not only farmers. They are caretakers, planners, financial managers, and community participants, often all at once.

In Phetchaburi Province, Thailand, Kanokwan Thongkham manages the full cycle of pumpkin cultivation, from monitoring crop health and supervising field work to selecting seed varieties, identifying markets, and coordinating harvest transport. Beyond field operations, she also oversees logistics and finances, carefully tracking costs and long-term performance.

In her pumpkin field in Phetchaburi, Kanokwan nurtures both the harvest in her hands and the future it represents.

In Kandal Province, Cambodia, Phin Ouy spends her days weeding, watering, and nurturing crops, only to continue working at home by cooking and caring for her family. The work changes form, but it never truly pauses.

From field to home, Phin Ouy’s work never truly pauses, sustaining both crops and the life they support.

Age does not lessen responsibility; it often deepens it.

In Taunggyi Township, Southern Shan State, Myanmar, Aye Lwe, now in her sixties, still plants, weeds, harvests, manages income, and supports village life through donations and shared produce. Physical strength may shift with time, yet stewardship of land, family, and community remains constant.

In her garden, Aye Lwe embodies quiet endurance, balancing care, cultivation, and community through the rhythm of everyday life.

This isn’t just anecdotal. Research in psychology, sociology, and gender studies consistently shows that women carry overlapping responsibilities in both domestic care and economic production, navigating unequal divisions of labor while sustaining household and community wellbeing (FAO, 2011; UN Women, 2020).

In agrifood systems specifically, women’s empowerment directly correlates with stronger household income, improved resilience, and broader community wellbeing. Women’s adaptive capacity is central to rural development and food security (World Bank, 2012; FAO, IFAD & WFP, 2025).

Some women extend their influence beyond their own fields.

In Southeast Vietnam, corn trader, Nguyễn Thị Chuyền, distributes quality seeds, gathers harvests from local farmers, and guarantees she will buy back their produce, ensuring stable markets and shared income. 

“Seeing my neighbors earn a good income from the seeds I provided is my greatest joy,” she shared.

Beyond her own field, Chuyen helps harvest opportunity, linking seeds, markets, and livelihoods across her community.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in Brazil, Arlete Aparecida Lopes Sato begins her mornings with Brazilian coffee before heading to harvest and care for her vegetables. From planting to market, she carries full responsibility for the food she produces.

“I am proud to be a farmer who produces food for the population.”

From planting to market, Arlete Aparecida Lopes Sato grows more than vegetables; she grows food that sustains people far beyond her farm.

And in Ravalkol Village, Telangana, India, Malkapeta Anita begins her day before sunrise, checking crop health, planning irrigation or harvesting, and carrying responsibility for nearly every farming decision. 

“I am proud that I continue farming even when many others have given up. Despite the challenges, I have stayed committed to agriculture. I feel proud to call myself a farmer and to produce food through my own hard work.”

Facing uncertain weather and shifting prices, Malkapeta Anita continues to choose the soil, carrying resilience into every new day.

Further west, in Uganda, Sarah Kalibatya begins her mornings by pumping water for irrigation before the heat intensifies. She oversees farm resources, manages finances to pay workers, and monitors daily operations across her tomato fields. Though she has access to nine acres of land, limited irrigation and resources allow her to cultivate only part of it, while pests, price volatility, and seasonal risks remain constant concerns.

Yet the three-month tomato harvest cycle brings tangible reward. “I am proud that through growing tomatoes, I have been able to pay for my children’s school fees and meet my family’s needs.”

In her tomato field in Uganda, Sarah balances irrigation, resources, and responsibility, cultivating not only crops but also the future of her family with every harvest.

These stories celebrate women’s roles not only in agriculture, but in society itself. 

Yet the many hats women wear are often carried without equal support.
Farmers speak of limited capital, unstable prices, uncertain weather, and restricted access to land, water, or new technology barriers that slow dreams of expanding farms or improving livelihoods. 

For some women, change has begun to arrive in tangible forms. In India, Malkapeta Anita speaks of how access to quality seeds and technical guidance gave her “the confidence to make decisions my way.” 

In Thailand, Kanokwan Thongkham describes how farmer training helped her shift from intuition to data, tracking costs, understanding margins, and planning seasons with greater precision. 

At East-West Seed, we work across our market to support women farmers through field-based solutions that strengthen skills, confidence, and decision-making power. 

In India, for example, offering seed production contracts directly to women has expanded participation from 3% in 2020 to 29% in 2024, with women now representing 34% of current seed growers. This shift shows women moving from informal contributors to recognized contract growers with documented income and formal standing in agricultural value chains.

The ambition extends beyond one country. By combining quality seeds, farmer training, and hands-on technical support, we work alongside rural communities to improve yields, reduce risk, and build more stable incomes, creating pathways for women to participate, lead, and grow across diverse farming systems.

With more inclusive support systems, the versatility women already demonstrate can become not just a survival skill, but a driving force for rural prosperity and food security.

Because women in agriculture are not waiting to contribute. From Thailand to Myanmar, Cambodia to Vietnam, Brazil to India and Uganda, they already hold families, harvests, and communities together, living layered lives, wearing many hats, and shaping the future from the soil.

When Khin Than Win says she “takes the lead in everything,” she’s showing us the way forward. As we mark the International Women’s Day, we are reminded that the work ahead is ours to shape together: building agricultural systems that finally match women’s leadership with the resources, access, and support that make change possible.