Honoring Rural Women with Gratitude
October 15 is the #InternationalDayOfRuralWomen, a day set aside to honor the women who live close to the land and carry the responsibility of sustaining families, communities, and traditions. Their contributions often go unseen, yet their strength shapes the foundation of our world. They embody resilience, determination, and resourcefulness, qualities that ripple outward into every life they touch.
My Mother’s Story
For me, this day carries personal meaning. My mother grew up in rural Minnesota, in a small community called Lake George. Her childhood was steeped in the rhythms of farm life: planting and harvesting potatoes, milking cows, and helping with the endless chores that defined survival in those days. Life was not easy, but it built strength.
During World War II, she traveled to California where my grandfather worked on the Richmond shipyards building Liberty Ships. She attended high school there, then returned briefly to Minnesota to graduate before boarding a train once more to California. Like so many rural women, she chose a new path. She left farm life behind, but she carried with her the resilience, practicality, and faith that rural living had instilled.
Her story is both ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary because many rural women made similar choices, seeking opportunities in towns and cities. Extraordinary because in her leaving, she transformed her life and shaped mine. For that, I am deeply grateful.
Gratitude for Their Strength
Rural women around the world carry burdens that are often invisible. They manage households, tend crops, raise livestock, preserve food, and care for children and elders. They keep traditions alive while adapting to changing times. Their labor sustains not only their families but also entire communities.
When I reflect on my mother’s story and the stories of countless other women like her, I am filled with gratitude. Gratitude for their grit, their sacrifices, and their ability to thrive with so little recognition. Gratitude for the way they pass down values of perseverance and love, even when life is difficult.
Choosing New Paths
Some rural women stay rooted to the land, while others, like my mother, choose new paths. Both choices require courage. To stay is to endure and adapt to the challenges of rural life. To leave is to step into the unknown, to build something different without losing the lessons of one’s roots. Gratitude allows me to honor both paths as equally brave and equally valuable.
The Roots We Carry
Though I never lived on a farm myself, I know I stand on the shoulders of rural women. Their sacrifices allowed me to live a life of education, professional opportunity, and creative expression. I am the first woman in my maternal line who did not spend her youth bent over fields or carrying heavy pails of milk. Instead, I’ve spent my youth riding my bicycle in the streets of Palo Alto and building a career in high-tech marketing, writing, mentoring, and building communities of a different kind.
Yet I carry their roots within me. Their resilience flows through my veins. Their practicality shows up in my problem-solving. Their endurance whispers to me whenever life gets difficult: “You come from strong women. Keep going.”
Rural Women Today
Around the globe, rural women still face unique challenges. Limited access to healthcare, education, and economic opportunity remains a reality for many. Yet they continue to lead, to innovate, and to sustain. Gratitude invites us not only to acknowledge their struggles but also to celebrate their triumphs.
By supporting rural women, we support stronger families, healthier communities, and more resilient societies. Gratitude can become action, donating to organizations that uplift rural communities, buying produce from local farmers, or simply acknowledging the unseen contributions of women who keep traditions alive.
On this International Day of Rural Women, I pause to honor the women whose hands, hearts, and choices sustain us. Let us give thanks for their resilience, their sacrifices, and their love.
Though I never bent over the fields myself, I carry their stories, and those stories ground me. Gratitude helps me see my life not as separate from theirs but as part of a lineage of strength. The roots of rural women hold us steady, and their branches reach toward tomorrow.