News
The latest news and information on gender equality and women's empowerment
![Gender-Review](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/gender-review.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=b3e54da5_3)
FAO launches major review to improve action on gender
16/02/2010
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is conducting a comprehensive gender review, which will lay the groundwork for the development of a strategy to ensure inclusion of gender-responsive actions into FAO’s work at the national, regional
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FAO's new strategic objective: gender equity
23/11/2009
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf: "Women’s empowerment and gender equality are fundamental to FAO’s vision of a world free of hunger and malnutrition"
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Grassroots women meet face-to-face with women leaders
17/11/2009
Nereide Segala Coelho, a Brazilian farmer, was among rural women from Africa, Asia and Latin America who exchanged ideas at a meeting with women ministers and diplomats
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Our new website on gender mainstreaming
12/11/2009
The new site will contribute to a series of global initiatives, focused on ensuring world food security, by highlighting the fundamental role of gender equity in eliminating hunger and poverty
![11970z3911](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/11970z3911.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=52e1c4fb_1)
Global platform for food security revitalized
20/10/2009
Faced with rising world hunger and in response to calls for greater coherence and coordination, members of the FAO Committee on World Food Security (CFS) have agreed on a wide-ranging reform, FAO announced today.
![11984g0237](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/11984g0237.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=56a89f6e_1)
Agriculture to 2050: The challenges ahead
12/10/2009
Agriculture must become more productive if it is to feed a much larger world population while responding to the daunting environmental challenges ahead, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said here today.
![11985e020](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/11985e020.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=d2678075_1)
New FAO Goodwill Ambassadors
17/09/2009
FAO is to honour five new high profile personalities as Goodwill Ambassadors, the agency announced today.
![24684_0023](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24684_0023.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=7e6184e3_1)
Good news from Afghanistan
27/04/2009
There’s not so many feel-good stories coming out of Afghanistan these days, and even fewer about life getting better for women there. But FAO has one to tell.
![24705_8609](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24705_8609.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=68a8bb4c_1)
Women in agriculture: The critical food producers
15/10/2008
Women make up over half the agriculture labour force yet they are frequently subject to discrimination, poverty and hunger. A new publication launched today investigates the situation of women in the rural workforce and how some of the main challenges fac
![24650_0019](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24650_0019.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=b020a107_1)
Large-scale biofuel production may increase marginalization of women
21/04/2008
Rapid increases in the large-scale production of liquid biofuels in developing countries could exacerbate the marginalization of women in rural areas threatening their livelihoods, according to a new FAO study.
![24659__1516](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24659__1516.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=1372119d_1)
Miriam Makeba visits rape survivors in Congo (DR)
13/03/2008
Singer and activist Miriam Makeba says women survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo face a “triple tragedy” of physical, psychological and social damage
![24702_1274](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24702_1274.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=37c1bdeb_1)
Climate change a further challenge for gender equity
10/03/2008
The effect of climate change could in many areas of the world "diminish considerably the progress we have made so far in securing gender equality,” said Iceland’s Minister of the Environment, Ms Thorunn Sveinbjarnardóttir, at an FAO event marking Internat
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Climate change: Focussing on how the vulnerable can cope
07/12/2007
With higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall, and a potential sea level rise, entailing more frequent or more intense disasters, no part of the world will be safe from the impacts of the changing climate.
![11970x0119](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/11970x0119.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=286cb6e4_1)
Women fill top posts at FAO
15/01/2007
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf has announced the appointment of two women to top positions in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
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Queen Sofia of Spain awarded the Ceres Medal
10/10/2006
Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain was today awarded the Ceres Medal, coined in her honour by FAO in recognition of her efforts to raise the living standards of rural women in developing countries.
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Unequal access to natural resources
27/06/2006
More than any other group, female-headed households in Ethiopia’s Southern Tigray region – one of the poorest in the world – have little access to tree and plant resources, which are vital for their livelihoods.
![24702_0164](/images/devgenderlibraries/news/24702_0164.tmb-th600x400.jpg?Culture=en&sfvrsn=5e491461_1)
Right agriculture policies can promote healthy diets
18/05/2006
Agriculture and the right farm policies can promote healthy diets but Europeans are in some ways eating worse now than 45 years ago, an international meeting was told here.
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Education for rural people in the Caribbean
12/05/2006
International attention turns towards the Caribbean region on the eve of a regional conference on education for rural people to take place in Saint Lucia on 18 and 19 May 2006.
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Literacy and education in fishing communities
09/05/2006
More accessible and better oriented literacy and education programmes for fishing communities will improve their livelihoods while diversifying their income-generating activities, according to a new report prepared by FAO.
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Ninety-six governments recognize ‘essential role’ of agrarian reform and rural development in fight against poverty
10/03/2006
Representatives of 96 FAO member countries participating in the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) have recognized the essential role of agrarian reform and rural development for sustainable development.