All over the world, women contribute enormously to rural development through their work in agriculture. As a result of male outmigration from rural areas and the growth of commercial farming, women’s roles in agriculture are expanding in many countries (FAO, 2017), with significant consequences for food systems and rural societies at large.

 Reliable sex-disaggregated indicators are crucial for understanding the differences in men’s and women’s work within the rural economy. Employment indicators are useful for identifying gaps in men’s and women’s participation in market-oriented activities. Beyond employment measures, indicators capturing other types of work – particularly own-use production of goods and services – can also shed light on gender differences in work patterns.

 This information brief reviews indicators of work and employment in agriculture from a gender perspective. It highlights the fact that traditional employment indicators, important as they are, underestimate the extent of rural women’s activities because they exclude non-employment work. The brief provides examples of gender-disaggregated time-use data that can give a more complete picture of women’s and men’s workload in agricultural contexts. The brief also offers recommendations for the way forward.