Gender and inclusive food systems and value chains

By 2050, feeding a global population of almost 10 billion will require a radical transformation in how food is produced, processed, traded, distributed and consumed. Across the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the aim is to maximize the co-benefits of a food systems approach, so that food systems can provide decent employment and livelihoods for all producers and actors along the food chain while offering nutritious products for consumers without damaging natural resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supports governments and other stakeholders in building inclusive, efficient and sustainable food systems.

Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are central to developing inclusive food systems, as women play major roles as agricultural producers, farm managers, processors, traders, wage workers and entrepreneurs. 

Both women and men are important to help value chains succeed and grow, contributing to food security, nutrition and natural resource management. Women comprise 37 percent of the world’s rural agricultural employment and up to 48 percent in low-income countries. Yet their work is often highly labour-intensive and characterized by small-scale marketing and low profit margins. This is mainly due to gender inequalities and women’s marginalization.

Gender-based discrimination limits women’s opportunities to access decent employment, services, productive resources and markets. Between 2011 and 2021, the gender gap in financial inclusion has remained at 7 percent globally and 9 percent in developing economies (Global Findex database, 2017).

Women’s contributions to food systems is frequently unrecognized, as they must adapt their productive activities around domestic and care work, which also results in their heavy work burden. Prevailing sociocultural norms limit their ability to make autonomous decisions within households, communities and rural organizations. The failure to recognize the multiple roles performed by women along the value chain, and to address their specific needs and priorities, often reduces their opportunities to participate in and benefit from value chain operations. 

FAO supports countries in building sustainable and inclusive food systems by generating knowledge, providing policy advice and implementing tailored programmes. This is done with a view to reversing long-standing inequalities, including the unequal division of workload at home, the gender pay gap, limited access to productive resources and services, and the extensive lack of value given to women’s work in value chains. The work of FAO focuses on the adoption of inclusive rural advisory services, the development of gender-sensitive value chains, the reduction of food losses, the provision of business services, financial inclusion and assessing the gender implications in trade.

The FAO Developing gender-sensitive value chains – A guiding framework is used to address the gender gap by analyzing agrifood value chains at four levels: actors of the core value chain, including individuals and households who produce, add value or sell the product; actors of extended value chains, such as business development support providers, non-financial and financial services; the national environment; and the global-enabling environments. This framework addresses gender inequalities, while strengthening the links between different value chain actors.

To reduce food losses, FAO focuses on the social dimensions that create disparities in terms of access to productive resources, services and technologies, such as harvesting techniques, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems, and the unequal power relations that prevent women from making autonomous decisions.