Addressing gender equality is a fundamental part of FAO’s mandate. Social and economic inequalities between women and men undermine food security and restrict economic growth and advances in agriculture. The problems of hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty cannot be solved unless and until women and men are treated equally and gender disparities are challenged. In order to ensure that gender issues are adequately addressed at all levels of planning, and throughout implementation processes and each Strategic Objective, gender has been incorporated into the new FAO Strategic Framework as a Cross-Cutting Theme. This means that FAO recognizes the critical importance of the issue and is committed to gender equality across its full remit, including the areas of: food and nutrition security, agriculture and consumer protection, economic and social development, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, natural resource management and environment, technical cooperation, knowledge exchange, research and extension.