September 2004

Establishment of a core set of gender-sensitive indicators for the agricultural sector: A preliminary proposal

by John Curry
Gender and Development Service
FAO Gender and Population Division

Gender-sensitive indicators highlight changes in gender relations in society over time. They are useful for measuring changes in the status of women and men over time by measuring whether gender equality is being achieved. The utilisation of gender-sensitive indicators enables us to monitor and evaluate development activities more effectively; these in turn will feed into more effective future planning and programme delivery (FAO 2000a).

Although the need has been recognized since at least the adoption of the World Plan of Action by the International Conference on Women in 1975 (UN 1975; Narain 1999), increased attention within the UN system has been drawn to the issue of gender-sensitive indicators in the aftermath of the World Summit for Social Development and the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 (FAO 2000b). Within this framework, however, there appears to be a paucity of gender-sensitive sustainable development indicators for natural resources management or the agricultural sector.

This paper discusses issues concerning the development of a core set of gender-sensitive indicators for monitoring gender aspects of the agricultural and rural sectors. The FAO response to the work on gender-sensitive indicators in the UN framework is described briefly, and a framework for establishing a core set of such indicators using available sources of data is discussed. A provisional core set of indicators is offered in following major areas: ownership of land, access to productive resources (machinery, fertilizer and pesticide use), and the role of women in agriculture (participation in the agricultural labour force). The paper also discusses data requirements and estimation issues associated with these indicators, and uses examples drawn from the World Agricultural Census 2000 as illustrations.

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For related information, please see:

Adding a social dimension to agricultural statistics: Incorporation of gender considerations into FAO’s statistical support to member countries