Rural women in post-Soviet countries may live longer than men, but on average they earn less, work more hours per day, receive smaller pensions or none at all, and are very likely to spend their elder years in poverty.

These are some of the findings in a recent FAO study of social protection schemes in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Georgia. The research was carried out in preparation for a discussion by the region’s governments at the forthcoming 39^th session of the European Commission on Agriculture.