The importance of sex disaggregated data to support adaptation planning for women in agriculture
The event was attended by technical officers of various Ministers and agencies that are working on strengthening gender perspectives in public policies.
In its efforts to adapt to climate change impacts, Uruguay has made strong commitments to promoting gender equality in the agriculture sectors. On March 26th, the Specialized Gender Commission of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay (MGAP) organized a roundtable to discuss the role of sex-disaggregated data to improve the adoption of adaptation actions in agriculture. Participants included members of the School of Social Sciences of the Universidad de la República, the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación (IICA), FAO and UNDP/PNUD.
Dr. Paola Mascheroni from the Universidad de la República presented a gender analysis of data from the Agricultural Census of 2011. The analysis showed that although improvements have been made, there are still gaps that underline gender inequality in agriculture. She noted the existence of biases in women’s access to paid work, high levels of unpaid work and gaps in women's access to land. Dr. Mascheroni stressed the need to improve the way information is collected in the Agricultural Census to be able to better visualize women´s role in agriculture, in order to improve the design of public policies that can close the gender gap.