More than one-third of the world’s working women are employed in agro-product systems, including the production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as related activities from storage, transportation, transporting and processing food to distribution.
But in one new report, FAO says that gender inequality such as less women’s access to knowledge and resources, and higher unpaid care burden, which account for the 24% productivity gap between female and male farmers on farms of equal size.
Women in the agricultural sector are also paid nearly 20% less than male workers.
“If we address the pervasive gender inequalities in agricultural systems and empower women, the world will take a giant leap forward in addressing the goals of poverty alleviation and creating a There is no more hunger in the world,” he said FAO General Manager Qu Dongyu.
According to the FAO, closing the gender gap in agricultural productivity and the wage gap in agricultural employment would “increase global gross domestic product by nearly $1 trillion and reduce 45 million people in unemployment.” food security”, at a time when global hunger is on the rise. .
A farmer from a women-run vegetable cooperative grows cabbage in Sierra Leone.
structural inequality
The report found that women’s access to land, services, credit and digital technology lags behind men’s, while a higher burden of unpaid care has limited educational opportunities. their education, training and employment. FAO points out that discriminatory social norms reinforce gender barriers to knowledge, resources and social networks – preventing women from contributing equally in the agricultural sector.
“In many countries, much remains to be done to ensure that women own land on par with men and that legal frameworks protect their rights,” the report said. Its authors describe the “alarming” slow rate of change in female farmers’ access to livestock ownership and necessities like irrigation and fertilizer as “alarming”.
The report also notes that in agricultural systems, “women’s roles tend to be marginalized, and their working conditions may be worse than that of men – infrequently, informally, knowledge, part-time, low-skilled or labor-intensive”.
Promote growth, curb hunger
The United Nations food agency argues that “challenges to the full and equal rights of women”
employment in agri-food systems constrains their productivity and perpetuates the wage gap.”
According to the report, creating a level playing field in agricultural productivity and agricultural wages would add 1 percent to global gross domestic product, or nearly $1 trillion, and reduce unemployment. food security down 2 percentage points, benefiting 45 million people.
This is a striking forecast at a time when global hunger is on the rise. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) estimate that more than 345 million people worldwide face crisis levels of food insecurity this year, an increase of nearly 200 million since the beginning of 2020. Of these, 43 million are just a few steps away. famine one step.
untapped potential
The report’s authors also point out that agricultural projects specifically empowering women have broad social and economic benefits.
According to FAO, “if half of small-scale producers benefited from development interventions focused on women’s empowerment, it would significantly raise the incomes of an additional 58 million people and increase resilience of an additional 235 million people”.
The size of women’s employment in agri-food systems in some developing countries points to the potential impact that equality-promoting interventions can have. In South Asia, for example, 71% of working women are employed in this field (compared to 47% of men).
‘Make the agri-food system suitable for women’
FAO points out that monitoring and accelerating progress on gender equality in agro-food systems depends on “the collection and use of high-quality data, disaggregated by sex, age and forms of economic and social differences”, which are currently lacking, as well as rigorous research on gender.
At the policy level, the report’s authors recommend urgent action to “close gaps related to access to assets, technology and resources”. They say that improving the productivity of women in the agri-food sector requires interventions that “deal with the burden of unpaid care and domestic work, provide education and training, while consolidating land security”.
FAO also supports social protection programs that “have been shown to increase women’s employment and resilience”. Indeed, the UN agency’s research highlights that “when the economy is in recession, women’s work comes first”, as was the case in recent years. COVID-19 pandemic.
“Women have always worked in agricultural systems. It’s time we make agri-food systems accessible to women,” Qu said in the report’s preface.
