GISAGARA-Women in Gisagara District have been urged to engage in income generating activities as a way of improving their social welfare.Speaking during celebrations to mark the Rural Women’s Day in Muganza Sector on Monday, the vice president of the National Women Council, Marie Rose Ndejeje, challenged women to make every effort to improve their social status and avoid relying on their husbands for survival.She said the country needs strong women who can contribute actively to the development of their families and the country.Ndejeje observed that women in the past were seen as a burden, something which resulted in disrespect and abuse, mainly in rural areas.Challenging women to avoid the ‘dependency syndrome’, she said: "We want smart, developed and hardworking women.We do not want to see women engage in drug abuse nor continuously wasting their time in less productive activities”.Ndejeje also encouraged women to join cooperatives, saying it helps in mobilising capital and resources to engage in business.She urged them to embrace various developmental programmes and policies, including the use of family planning methods and the kitchen garden (Akarima k’Igikoni), among others.The International Day of Rural Women is annually marked on October 15 and is seen as an opportunity to recognise the critical role and contribution of rural women in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.The day was celebrated under the theme: "the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication”.In accordance with the theme, ActionAid Rwanda donated six Friesian cows and 14 pigs to local vulnerable families.According to Josephine Uwamariya, the organisation’s country representative, the donation is part of efforts to uplift the social conditions of the rural women."We hope that these animals will help change the lives of the beneficiaries for the better,” Uwamariya observed. She noted that poverty eradication was important in the process of strengthening families and improving the position of women in society.According to the United Nations Women’s organization (UN Women), rural women and girls in the developing world play a vital role in food production.In sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, they are responsible for the production of between 60% and 80% of basic foodstuffs, the UN agency says.