Recent progress toward food security is evident, particularly in populous, fast-growing economies. However, hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition continue to increase in many countries, affecting millions of people, especially in rural areas where extreme poverty and food insecurity remain deeply entrenched.  

If current trends continue, the number of hungry and food insecure people will rise due to conflicts, climate change, extreme weather events and pandemics. Gender inequalities further exacerbate food insecurity and inadequate nutrition, and marginalized population groups, including women, youth and Indigenous Peoples, are disproportionately affected with higher prevalence among women than men. 

Women and men play distinct and complementary roles in promoting food security, both as food producers and household food providers responsible for food-related tasks at home and as key managers of food stability during economic crises.   

In agrifood systems, women are engaged as agricultural producers, farm managers, processors, traders, wage workers, entrepreneurs and community leaders, playing important roles across the value chains and in management of biodiversity and natural resources, such as land and water.  Women are also often responsible for ensuring household food and nutrition security, and food consumption within the family. They tend to prioritize the needs of other household members, particularly in times of scarcity, and reduce their own food intake. As a result, women and girls may eat a lower quantity and/or poorer quality food, exposing them to greater risk of hunger and malnutrition. 

Despite their important role in agrifood systems and in ensuring food security and nutrition of children and other family members, women’s contributions are often unrecognized in policy and legal frameworks, limiting their full potential to enhance food security. Over the past decade, significant progress in measuring women’s empowerment in agrifood systems has demonstrated the positive impact of their empowerment on household agricultural production, food security, dietary diversity and child nutrition. Nevertheless, persisting inequalities between women and men, due to structural barriers and discriminatory social norms, continue to undermine global efforts made to increase food security, improve nutrition and support sustainable agriculture development.  

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) strives to eradicate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition for all women, girls, men and boys. FAO advocates for integrating these issues into global standard-setting documents and high-level policy dialogues on food security and nutrition. Through the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), FAO collaborates with governments, development agencies, academia, civil society and the private sector to include gender equality considerations in agreed principles and international standards for food security and nutrition. 

Supporting the livelihoods of female and male small-scale food producers, improving the resilience of food production systems and encouraging the sustainable use of natural resources are part of the Organization’s efforts to fulfil its mandate. In recognition of the crucial contributions of women and girls, FAO supports initiatives to increase women’s access to productive resources, services and economic opportunities; integrate gender equality into policies, programmes and legal frameworks; strengthen the capacities of national and governmental institutions; and improve the productive and entrepreneurial capacities of rural women to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. Gender-transformative approaches are adopted for changing harmful norms and discrimination against women and vulnerable groups.