They own less land, earn less money, and are more vulnerable to crises: essential to feed the world, women still occupy a "marginal" place in food production, says the FAO, in a rare report on the glaring inequalities of the sector.
Women often face more challenging working conditions than men, as they are often relegated to part-time, low-skilled, and informal jobs. This is especially true in agriculture, where women make up more than half of the workforce in many sub-Saharan African countries and just under half in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, despite some progress, most gender disparities have stalled, and some gaps have widened since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although women's access to technology and credit has improved since the last report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2010, women around the world still lag behind in access to land, inputs, financing, and technology. Male-run farms are often 24% more productive than farms run by women of equal size, which exacerbates poverty and hunger.
Furthermore, women in the livestock sector tend to own fewer and smaller animals than men. In many countries, men are twice as likely to hold property or land ownership rights as women, and women's income in the wage agricultural sector is 18.4% lower than men's. Due to their lack of resources and information, women also have less capacity to adapt to climate shocks or economic crises.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated women's food insecurity, with 22% of women losing their jobs in the agri-food industries compared to only 2% of men. To eradicate poverty and hunger, it is crucial to address these inequalities and empower women in agriculture. As FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu stated in the report, empowering women is a significant step toward achieving these goals.