Women from rural areas are often in a less favorable position than women in urban environments. They usually have a lower level of education, perform less mentally demanding jobs and have fewer options and opportunities for career advancement. Lifelong formal and informal learning and training can help them to improve their knowledge and skills and thus their personal and professional capabilities.

Investing in the education and training of rural women is an investment in the future of the entire community. Through lifelong learning and training of rural women, we can help them acquire new skills and knowledge that are necessary for employment or self-employment and an independent entrepreneurial journey. In this way, we make it possible for women from rural areas to improve their living conditions, which in turn also contributes to the development of rural areas.

Through lifelong learning and training, we help women acquire many skills that are indispensable in today's age. This mainly includes business and communication skills, computer literacy and financial literacy. By acquiring new knowledge and skills, we increase rural women's self-confidence and sense of self-worth. Through the educational process and additional training, we achieve that they can better express their views, assert themselves within society, and become more independent.

Women who are better educated and trained can become independent entrepreneurs, managers, or decision-makers within society. This can lead to more balanced and fair decisions that take into account the needs of all stakeholders and more sustainable development in rural areas.

It is important for every society to enable economic independence for as many people as possible. By investing in the education and training of rural women, we ensure that they acquire the skills necessary to find a job or start their own business. As a result, this brings a more stable income and an improvement in their economic situation.

Through formal and informal training, rural women can combine traditional knowledge with modern skills and abilities related to the transition to a green economy, digitization, and robotization. This can lead to greater involvement of women in modern economic developments in rural areas and to innovations in agriculture, crafts, and other rural activities.

With targeted measures, we help in the transfer of traditional values, knowledge, and culture to younger generations. In this light, even in research and educational institutions, we strive to develop customized programs and learning methods for women from rural areas to a green, digital, and inclusive society.

The University of Primorska thus already participates in European projects in the field of introducing gender equality, where one of the main goals is to develop and implement an agricultural and biosystem-oriented plan for gender equality (GEP) with sector-specific measures and strategies. The AGRIGEP project takes place in cooperation with five other universities from the member states of the European Union. The goal of the project is to improve gender equality at universities, with an assessment of the state of gender equality at partner universities, the creation of proposals for improving gender equality, and the implementation of proposals in research and educational institutions.

At the University of Primorska, the Faculty of Management (UP FM) and UP, we are thus trying to improve awareness of the importance of gender equality, to change the culture in such a way that research and educational institutions are more friendly to women, and at the same time to increase the number of women in academic and professional roles.

On the day of rural women's empowerment, we kindly invite you to tune in to UP FM and UP, where we educate and train in the fields of agriculture, rural women, health, finance, entrepreneurship, digital marketing, and other current areas of society 5.0.

Prepared within the AGRIGEP project (HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-ERA-01-81).