Women make up at least 43 percent of the agricultural workforce in developing countries, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Yet, women in rural and agricultural livelihoods consistently have less access than men to resources and opportunities.  As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the virus disproportionately impacted women, whose care responsibilities...

This case study was developed by Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) with support from the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development and the World Rural Forum. SEWA, a trade union was established in 1972 in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It was an offshoot of the Association's Women's Wing of...

On a working day in June 2018 under my previous organization, I visited Shibuyunji district to conduct my usual technical support to the extension staff as well as project beneficiaries. Having had a short meeting with the extension staff, we immediately proceeded into the field to conduct on-site visits. I...

Women-led cooperatives have played a role in improving women farmers’ technical know-how, leadership capacities, business skills, and advocacy skills. Women members of Yen Duong Cooperative in Vietnam were trained in agroforestry production, handicrafts making, and tourism and actively participated in advocacy and policy-making activities in their locality. They have successfully...

A Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores Rurais Agricultores e Agricultoras Familiares (Contag) lançou a primeira edição de um anuário estatístico do setor, elaborado em parceria com o Departamento Intersindical de Estatísticas e Estudos Socioeconômicos (Dieese).  O Anuário Estatístico da Agricultura Familiar - 2022 demonstgra que a aghricultura familair brasileira é a principal...

What is the story behind the food you eat? What if people actually valued all the underpaid and unpaid labor that goes into food? What if women were not doing most of the work? And if women and girls weren’t the last ones to eat? What if it weren't mostly...

An alternative to the dominant agri-food system approach, ‘EcoSol-agroecology’ denotes a convergence of solidarity economy and agroecology movements. In Latin America, agroecology has been linked to the solidarity economy since the 1990s. Based at the Open University, UK, Les Levidow coordinated the AgroEcos project, which promoted and facilitated Eco-Sol agroecology networks....

Las mujeres rurales, campesinas, indígenas, agricultoras, siguen enfrentando desigualdades estructurales y políticas socioeconómicas que limitan el reconocimiento y la plena valoración de su trabajo reproductivo, productivo y comunitario. Como resultado y aunque su trabajo los sostiene, las mujeres rurales tienen poca posibilidad de participación y liderazgo en los mecanismos de...

What is the story behind the food you eat? What if people actually valued all the underpaid and unpaid labor that goes into food? What if women were not doing most of the work? And if women and girls weren’t the last ones to eat? What if it weren't mostly...

In the Republic of Moldova, far more women living in rural areas are at risk of poverty compared with men and with urban populations. The recently released National Gender Profile on Agricultural and Rural Livelihoods in the Republic of Moldova presents a snapshot of gender inequalities that affect various aspects of agricultural...

After a particularly complicated and violent period in its history under the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia can boast of having halved its poverty rate between 2014 and 2022. Even if extreme poverty is still far from being eradicated today, this progress proves that it is not inevitable.

The WRF, together with six participating member organisations, organised in March and April 2022 two webinars, within the series Rural Women and Cooperativism. Insightful and valuable experiences of women’s farming groups or cooperatives from East and Central Africa, Latin America and Asia were shared.  The Rural Women and Cooperativism virtual exchange cycle aimed to promote the...

Women are involved in many activities along the value chain of fish trade in Africa including post-harvest handling, processing, branding and marketing. However, limited access to and control of key assets such as capital, skills and technologies limit their engagement in formal fish-related businesses. Women work under critical conditions using...

Fondé sur des études de cas couvrant 15 pays d’Afrique, d’Asie, d’Asie centrale, d’Europe et d’Amérique latine, ce rapport examine les déficits de travail décent dans les économies rurales. Il présente également les réponses apportées par les gouvernements et les syndicats concernant les conséquences de la crise de la Covid-19...

Food trees contribute substantially to the food and nutrition security of millions of rural households in Africa. Farming communities prioritize tree and shrub species on farms based on a combination of factors, including their knowledge of potential uses the species' economic potential and a range of constraints and opportunities that...

In areas ravaged by droughts intensified by climate change, women from traditional cattle farming communities in Kenya are expanding their knowledge and skills so that they can get climate smart and adapt to an increasingly arid environment.

Este documento es resultado del Encuentro Regional sobre Cambio Climático e Igualdad de Género, que se realizó de manera virtual en septiembre de 2021, organizado por el Gobierno de Chile —como país que ejerció la Presidencia del 25º período de sesiones de la Conferencia de las Partes en la Convención...

Smallholder farmers' use of solar-powered water pumps and other equipment creates opportunities to increase productivity and income. However, they generally struggle to get access to financing, quality farm inputs, advisory support and connections to markets. These challenges are felt more acutely by women and other marginalised farmers who typically do...

Despite their crucial role in agrifood systems, women are faced with enormous challenges, including exclusion from decision-making, denial of essential productive resources such as land, water, credit, information, and technologies, and disregard for their deep knowledge of local contexts. A key ally in empowering these women to continue working the...

Women are equally as important economic actors as men, yet they suffer gross inequalities such as gender gaps in income and human capital, despite rapid improvements in global living standards and educational attainment. The compilation of evidence and data presented in this report proves that the many gender-related gaps identified...