Close the gender gap, FAO calls for in 3rd Committee

“Evidence shows that agriculture policies that contribute to closing the gender gap are among the most effective measures to reduce poverty, increase production, improve social welfare, economic growth and community resilience. In other words, closing the gender gap is an effective pathway to sustainable development,” said Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations in New York, during the Seventy-third Session of the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee meeting on the Advancement of Women at the UN Headquarters on 11 October.

Mucavi noted that FAO is committed to step up efforts for the advancement of women, especially rural women, who are recognized by FAO as critical agents of the transformational change needed to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, leaving no one behind.

She also emphasized that FAO takes gender parity and equality very seriously at the corporate level. At the end of 2017, women held 41% of all FAO international posts, marking the highest representation in FAO in 10 years. Moreover, FAO Director-General has endorsed the “Collective Statement of the Members of the Secretary-General’s Circle of Leadership on the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in United Nations Operations.”