Food Security and Gender Fact Sheet

This two-page brief summarises the key gender and food security issues common to most developing regions. It opens by stating that women are responsible for half of the world’s food production, and in most developing countries they produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food. Yet, women continue to be regarded as home producers or assistants on the farm, and not as farmers and economic agents on their own merit. This brief sets out the key obstacles women face in food security and lists priority interventions to address these barriers:

Obstacles women face include:

• Lack of access to and control over key assets such as land, water and livestock
• Lack of adequate education and training opportunities
• Less access to credit than men, as well as less control over financial resources
• Lack access to appropriate technology, tools and inputs for farming productively
• Lack of time because of the burden of paid or unpaid work and unpaid care work that many women are expected to take on
• Limited mobility in some cases, tying them to their homes and care responsibilities

Interventions include:

• Encourage property, divorce and inheritance laws that allow women to legally own land and provide a mechanism for enforcing the laws.
• Include women as well as men in the design of agriculture and nutrition programmes.
• Provide women and girls with access to primary education as well as training on agricultural production, resource management and conservation.
• Ensure agricultural extension agents understand and consider the needs of women farmers; and recruit more female extension workers.
• Ensure that agricultural programs consider the needs and preferences of both men and women when developing and introducing new varieties and technologies.