Better opportunities for women and girls means leverage in fight against hunger.

"Rural women are active economic agents who could unleash major advancements in hunger eradication and development if they were able to participate equally with men in the agricultural economy,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Ann Tutwiler

The 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the principal global policy-making body committed to gender equality and the advancement of women, meets 27 February- 9 March in New York and is this year dedicated to rural women’s empowerment.

FAO today launched the “Men and women in agriculture: closing the gap” website, dedicated to the organization’s latest research and knowledge to close the gender gap in agriculture to achieve food security for all.

The UN launched the International Year of Cooperatives 2012 (IYC) on October 31 at the General Assembly in New York. On this occasion, FAO, IFAD and WFP held a side event on the role of agricultural cooperatives in improving the lives of smallholder men and women.

Gender equality was discussed as a prominent factor of food security at FAO’s celebration of World Food Day 2011 and throughout the 37th session of the United Nations Committee on Global Food Security (CFS), held at headquarters 17-22 October.

FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN Women convened an Expert Group Meeting from the 20-23 September 2011 in Accra, Ghana to identify strategies and recommendations to enhance the economic

Reforming forest tenure systems and securing forest ownership rights can significantly improve peoples’ livelihoods and enable them to gain income from forest products, said FAO in a newly published guide, Reforming Forest Tenure.

The vital role of women in agriculture and rural development was the theme of the thirty-seventh session of the biennial FAO Governing Conference (25 June-2 July 2011).

Worldwide 215 million children are engaged in child labour, and of these 115 million are involved in what is considered to be hazardous work. Agriculture is the sector where the largest share of child labourers is found - a staggering 60 percent of boys a

The FAO-Dimitra Project recently launched a handbook for all development practitioners, which examines the need to include gender in communication for rural development initiatives and provides guidance on achieving this successfully.

If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, agricultural production could be increased and the number of hungry people reduced by 100-150 million.

A new United Nations interagency report on the gender dimension of agricultural work says women still benefit less than men from rural employment and face new challenges due to the current economic and food crises.

Indigenous people will be given a stronger voice at FAO following the adoption of a new policy designed to ensure that they are considered in all relevant aspects of the agency’s work.

October 2010 marked the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which highlights the importance of involving women in all aspects of peacekeeping and peacebuilding to conserve peace, security and livelihoods.

Agricultural cooperatives can be an effective means to empower women in rural areas and help them to overcome the constraints they face, the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a statement released for the 16th International Day of Cooperatives.

Tackling hunger requires moving from talk to action in ensuring that women farmers have equal access to agricultural resources and an equal voice in decision making at all levels

Turning the tide against hunger will require taking urgent action on gender inequality, one of the main obstacles to food and nutrition security

Developing decent work opportunities for both women and men, especially young people new to the labour market, will be the focus of a global summit in Sweden on the future of employment.

FAO took part in a global conference on child labour in The Hague, The Netherlands, to put the spotlight on the key role that agriculture must play in eliminating hazardous and exploitative work for girls and boys.