Most people underestimate the amount of work that women do to feed the world.

If you haven’t gone to this page already, find out more about women and agriculture.

The AIDS epidemic in southern Africa has meant that women have had to take on an even greater share of the workload. What’s worse, AIDS is killing millions of women farmers.

AIDS on the family farm

What happens when AIDS strikes the family farm? When male farmers get sick, their wives may have to take on the heavier jobs in the fields. Often the men’s tools are heavy and difficult for women to use. Some of the work just doesn’t get done. Less food is grown and less money is earned.

Not only that, but in rural areas of developing countries, people with HIV and AIDS are usually cared for at home. And it’s women who are the caregivers. So when AIDS strikes a family, the women have to take time from farm work and other chores to look after the sick. The family gets poorer and hungrier.

When the husband becomes ill with AIDS his wife will usually become infected too. When a woman farmer dies of AIDS, especially when there is no other adult to look after the family, the entire household often breaks up. This leaves children and teen-agers to look after themselves and puts them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation and HIV infection.

Find out more about FAO and the AIDS epidemic.

HIV infections rising for women

All over the world, HIV infection rates for women are rising and not just in developing countries. In 1997, 25 percent of the people who became infected with HIV in Western Europe were women. By 2004, it had gone up to 38 percent.

But the region where women, especially young women, are most affected by AIDS is southern Africa.

Three quarters of all the women infected with HIV live in countries in southern Africa. For every 10 men infected with HIV, there are 13 women. For teenagers and young women the disparity is even greater. Infection rates for women between 15 and 24 are three times higher than for men the same age.

Why is this?

Well, part of the reason is that the risk of becoming infected during unprotected sex is higher for a woman than it is for a man. But more than anything else, the unequal infection rates for women reflect their unequal social status.

Because they don’t have the same social status as boys and men, rural girls and women often don’t get the chance to go to school. As a result, they don’t learn enough about HIV and AIDS and how to protect themselves from infection. Even when girls and women are informed about the disease, they may not be able to avoid taking risks with their health. Tradition and social pressures are very strong. They can make it almost impossible for a woman to express her choice of sexual partners and demand safe sex.

So you see, fighting for women’s equality is not just a matter of social justice; it’s a matter of life and death, especially in countries where the AIDS epidemic is raging. If we can improve the status of women in these countries, we can do a lot to reduce not just the HIV infection rate for women and girls but overall infection rates as well.

In fact, bringing about justice and equal rights for women can help us overcome what is perhaps the world’s greatest injustice: hunger.

Find out more about what FAO is doing to promote equal rights for men and women.