WUNRN
Food & Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations
WOMEN HOLD THE KEY
TO FOOD SECURITY
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Rural women make a tremendous contribution to food and agricultural production. They also play a crucial role in determining and guaranteeing food security and well-being for the entire household. Equitable, effective and sustainable agriculture and rural development cannot be pursued without an explicit recognition of these realities. In a global atmosphere of increasing poverty, food insecurity, rural out-migration and environmental degradation, all potential actors in development must be given the support and access to resources they need to pursue sustainable livelihoods and strategies for a better life. Within this context, women's empowerment will be central to raising levels of nutrition, improving production and distribution of food and agricultural products, and enhancing the living conditions of rural populations.
The FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development (1996-2001)
The FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development (1996-2001) defines the role the Organization will play in stimulating and facilitating efforts to increase the involvement of rural women as contributors and beneficiaries of economic, social and political development. In order to address the root causes of persistent poverty and food insecurity among rural women and the families they support as well as the factors contributing to degradation of the environment, the Plan pursues three strategic objectives:
- to promote gender-based equity in the access to, and
control of, productive resources;
- to enhance women's participation in decision and
policy-making processes at all levels;
- to promote actions to reduce rural women's workload and
enhance their opportunities for remunerated employment and income.
Key issues affecting the future of rural women
Worldwide, women play a major role in agriculture (including fisheries, forestry and livestock) and rural development. In many countries, they are the mainstay of agricultural sectors and food systems. Yet the most disadvantaged population in the world today comprises rural women in developing countries, who have been the last to benefit from - or in some cases have been negatively affected by - prevailing economic growth and development processes. Gender bias and gender blindness persist: farmers are still generally perceived as "male" by policy-makers, development planners and agricultural service deliverers.
Poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation are recognized as critical development problems and have been given highest priority in the international development agenda. These problems have a disproportionate negative impact on rural women, due to their inferior socio-economic, legal and political status as well as their critical roles as producers and household managers. The causes and effects of these impacts are systemic, with far-reaching implications for agricultural and rural development as a whole and for all initiatives aimed at raising levels of nutrition, improving production and distribution of food and agricultural products, and enhancing the living conditions of rural populations.
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