She was just 17 when her parents forced her to become a housewife. Her husband already had two wives and children, as well as an extended family of relatives, dependents and apprentices.

Cristina Amaral, Deputy Regional Representative for FAO in Europe and Central Asia, discusses the importance of women's rights and gender issues in the context of FAO's work in the region.

8th March is International Women’s day and this year’s theme is “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”. In 2017 we are far from living on ‘planet 50-50’ with women holding less than 20% of the land in all the main developing regions o

From clothing trader to coffee entrepreneur: Betty Ndugga has found a way to make a good living from agriculture, while also helping her community to prosper.

A simple and relatively inexpensive technology is revolutionizing the way West Africans smoke their fish.

Nanama is one of around 10 000 street food vendors in the city of Accra, Ghana, most of whom are women. Indeed, the face of street food vending is female in much of Africa.

“It’s time for us indigenous women to break our silence. It’s time for us to speak up.”

Herlinda Caal Tzi is a 48-year-old Q’eqchi’ woman from rural Guatemala. She lives in the village of Panzós, in the country’s Alta Verapaz department, with her husband Tomás Cac, their three sons and two daughters-in-law.

Chandra Kala Thapa is a thirty-year-old smallholder farmer living in Ranichauri, a village in the Sindhuli District of south-eastern Nepal. Like many women farmers here and in other parts of the developing world, she has faced a number of barriers to impr

“I could not write my name. I did not understand how to do my business. I only did the business and was not saving any money.”

“As a market woman, I never understood my business. But I now understand my business because I learnt about the importance of saving money.”

“Before the training, I was unable to manage money. I spent carelessly and did not even recognize that there is a future.”

Idrissa and his wife Ramatou live in the village of Tinkirana, in the Tahoua region of Niger. Like most of the men and women of their community and others across sub-Saharan Africa, they struggle with the effects of climate change on a daily basis.

“I am confident that this groundnut cultivation will help educate my children and earn a substantial income for my family” says Nelka Kumari Ariyasena.

The division of labour in agriculture often follows traditional patterns. Across a variety of sectors, from smallholder farmers to pastoralists and from forest keepers to fishers, men and women usually have very different—though complementary—roles, with

Since 2006, Dimitra Clubs have played a crucial role in strengthening rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, with a special focus on women’s empowerment.

Across the developing world, rural women play a crucial role in agriculture and farming. And Bangladesh, where women exceed 50 percent of the agricultural labour force, is no exception.

An interview with Tacko Ndiaye, Senior Gender Officer in the Gender Equity and Rural Development Division at FAO, on the Zero Hunger Challenge Blog.

The Blue Growth Blog, run by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department at FAO, reflects on recent activities related to women and their role in the sector.

Mahabat Botasheva is the enthusiastic leader of a group of five women in the village of Blagoveshenka in Jalal-Abad province, Kyrgyzstan. Last year, the women started a business in potted flowers. This is the story of how it took root, and how it’s growin