To end hunger and build a more resilient future, empowering women in agrifood systems is key

Tackling gender inequalities and empowering women across the entire agrifood system – from production to distribution and consumption – is central to reducing hunger, boosting economic development and strengthening resilience to climate and market shocks. This was the driving message from the FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen, who connected virtually today to brief journalists at the United Nations in New York on the new FAO report ‘The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems’.

The report, which was launched today from FAO headquarters in Rome, is the first of its kind since 2010, and looks beyond agriculture to provide a more holistic picture of the status of women working across agrifood systems. “If we tackle the gender inequalities endemic in agrifood systems and empower women, the world will take a leap forward in addressing the goals of ending poverty and creating a world free from hunger”, says FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in the foreword of the report. 

Hosted by the Office of the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General, today’s briefing from the United Nations in New York centered on the socioeconomic inequalities and uneven levels of resilience to climate and global shocks between men and women in agrifood systems, followed by key FAO policy recommendations.

Slow progress for gender equality, with cases of reversed gains

While some success has been achieved in reducing gender gaps in digital access and finance, a decade after FAO’s last report, progress in reducing most gender gaps has stagnated or even reversed.

The report highlights that globally, 36 per cent of working women are employed in agrifood systems, along with 38 per cent of working men. Nonetheless, women’s roles tend to be marginalized and their working conditions tend to be irregular, informal, part-time, low-skilled, or labour-intensive.

As for the gender pay gap in agrifood systems, women engaged in wage employment in agriculture earn 82 cents for every dollar that men earn.

Women also have less secure tenure over land, less access to credit and training, and have to work with technology designed for men. Along with discrimination, gender inequalities in secure land tenure, access to credit and training and other factors creates a 24 per cent gender gap in productivity between women and men farmers on farms of equal size.

The way forward: a $1 trillion opportunity

Torero spoke of the need to reduce gender inequalities in livelihoods, improving access to resources, and promoting resilience, all of which pave a critical pathway towards gender equality, women’s empowerment and more just and sustainable agrifood systems.

These efforts must include closing gaps related to access to assets, technology and resources, addressing care and unpaid domestic work burdens, providing education and training, and strengthening land-tenure security. Ensuring the access to childcare also has a large positive effect on mothers’ employment. As for social protection, these policy interventions have shown to increase women’s employment and resilience.

“There is a need for gender-transformative approaches, which are cost-effective,” the Chief Economist said.

The report also recommends addressing the continued lack of high-quality data disaggregated by sex, age, and other forms of social and economic differentiation, which is paramount to monitoring and accelerating progress towards gender equality in agrifood systems. 

Closing the gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in agricultural employment would increase global gross domestic product by nearly $1 trillion and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million, the report concludes.

With the launch of the report, FAO makes a commitment to do even more to mainstream gender considerations in our efforts to achieve Better Production, Better Nutrition, Better Environment and Better Life.

Related links

• Did you miss the press briefing? Watch the recording.
• Read the global press release here.
• Access the full report here and the digital interactive report here.
• Stay informed on FAO’s work on gender equality and rural women’s economic empowerment.
• Follow @MaximoTorero and @FAONewYork on Twitter for more latest updates.