U.S. Senators introduce a bipartisan resolution to recognize March 8 as International Women’s Day: Celebrating the achievements of women and girls and underscoring the barriers to equality and empowerment

Washington, DC – Today, two bipartisan U.S. Senators introduced a resolution to recognize March 8, 2024 as International Women’s Day. The resolution celebrates the achievements of women and girls around the globe and underscores the significant barriers that still stand in the way of women’s full equality and empowerment.   

The Senate Resolution is led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Susan Collins (R-ME).  

The two-year resolution recognizes that women and girls around the world have fundamental human rights that must be respected by all countries, including their rights to participate in the political, social and economic lives of their communities. The text also highlights the critical role women provide in caring for their families, their contributions to economic growth and conflict prevention, as well as their important role in the advancement of food security for their communities.  

This year, the resolution includes specific language that highlights the significant role of agrifood systems as a source of livelihood and economic empowerment for rural women, as well as the gender gaps that persist in wages, productivity, land ownership and access to resources. Furthermore, emphasis is given to the growing gender gap in food insecurity between men and women, which has now reached 2.4 percentage points globally, according to FAO data. The resolution also points to the empowerment of women as having important benefits for agricultural productivity,nutritionand food security.  

The text of the resolution which cites FAO data is included below:   

Whereas, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations— (1) agriculture and food systems are a major source of livelihoods, particularly for rural women; 7 CAN24121 XT3 S.L.C. (2) wage and productivity gaps persist in agriculture and food systems, despite the crucial role that women play in those sectors; (3) the work of women in agriculture and food systems is more likely than that of men to be part-time, irregular, informal, vulnerable, labor-intensive, and lowskilled; (4) in countries reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 5.a.1, more men than women are owners or have rights to agricultural land; (5) the gender gap in food insecurity is growing and has reached 4.3 percentage points, with more women experiencing severe and moderate food insecurity in all regions than men; and (6) the empowerment of women can have important benefits for agricultural productivity, nutrition, and food security; 

You can find the full text of the resolution here.  

Invest in women: Accelerate progress 

The International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, while making a worldwide call to action to strengthen efforts for supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.This year’s IWD theme is“Invest in women: Accelerate progress”. 

One of the key challenges in achieving gender equality by 2030 is an alarming lack of financing with a staggering USD 360 billion annual deficit in spending on gender-equality measures.  Closing gender gaps in farm productivity and wages within agrifood systems could boost the global domestic product by 1 percent, representingnearly US$1 trillion, and decrease global food insecurity levels, leading to 45 million more people being food-secure, according to the 2023 FAO status of women in agrifood systems report.  

Today, women’s unequal status, due to discriminatory social norms present in society and agrifood systems, leaves them vulnerable to hunger and poverty. In 2022, 388 million women and girls lived in extreme poverty and 27.8 percent of women were moderately or severely food insecure. 

This overall picture of gender disparity is starkly evident in rural areas. Limited access to assets and agricultural inputs generates a land productivity gender gap, with a 24 percent difference between productivity from female versus male-managed farms of the same size. Women earn, on average, 18.4 percent less in wage employment in agriculture: when men earn one dollar, women earn about 82 cents. Also, heatwaves and floods affect rural women and men differently and widen the income gap, as highlighted in the Unjust Climate report (FAO 2024). 

Targeted policies and programmes that incorporate gender and other socioeconomic determinants are key to bridging the gap between women and men in agrifood systems. Financing gender equality benefits societies, boosts economies and builds sustainable food systems.

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