News
The latest news and information on gender equality and women's empowerment
Building smart solutions to advance equal opportunities for women and girls
08/03/2019
“Think equal, build smart, innovate for change” is this year's theme for International Women’s Day.
Afikepo makes strides in improving nutrition in Nkhotakota District of Malawi
12/12/2018
Afikepo, a five-year nutrition programme funded by the European Union, aims to enhance nutrition security in Malawi.
Women's empowerment for food security and nutrition for all: evidence from joint UN work
06/12/2018
Measuring the impact and results of a multiagency programme on rural women’s economic empowerment.
Rural women and youth are key to tackling links between violence and hunger
03/10/2018
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus discuss ways to address violence and hunger.
Gender gaps in African agriculture are holding back progress
27/09/2018
African Union and FAO call for greater support to rural women as agents of change to end hunger.
In a Kenyan refugee camp, farming is the path to self-sufficiency
19/09/2018
Sarah Sikatenda, a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo, now farms to feed her family and build a future.
A violet chair to give indigenous women a seat at the table
08/08/2018
Campaign to promote indigenous women’s rights and role in policy discussions for Zero Hunger
Linking gender and climate experts for adaptation planning in the Gambia
19/06/2018
Raising awareness and sharing expertise on the links between gender equality, agricultural development, and climate change adaptation.
FAO launches campaign to empower indigenous women in Asia and Pacific
03/05/2018
Asia is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples on Earth, with an estimated 260 million of a total of 370 million original inhabitants worldwide.
Asia-Pacific countries commit to empower rural women and girls at high-level UN forum
16/03/2018
Ministers and senior government representatives from Asia and the Pacific have committed to ensuring greater empowerment of rural women and girls to improve their standard of living, food security and livelihoods.
Technology can be key to empowering rural women
08/03/2018
While the digital revolution is reaching rural areas in many developing countries, the rural digital divide continues to present considerable challenges. The problem is even more acute for women, who face a triple divide: digital, rural, and gender.
Information and communications technologies are essential to the empowerment and success of poor rural women
07/03/2018
This International Women's Day, UN agencies in Rome will focus discussions on the role of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in supporting rural women's economic empowerment, voice and status.
Sweden strengthens partnership to accelerate economic empowerment for rural women
05/03/2018
“Sweden is happy to continue supporting a programme that has shown promising results and hopes that these new funds will convince other donors to join the partnership.”
Rural women as agents of change in migration
02/03/2018
Six out of ten international migrants reside in Asia and Europe, and a large share of them are from rural areas. Often, when these migrants settle into urban areas and find work, they send money back home to the families they’ve left behind.
New fish smoking ovens launched in Asia
04/12/2017
The traditional method of fish-smoking in the small fishing community of Unnichchai, in eastern Sri Lanka sees women spending many hours tending to fish laid out on mesh over smoking coals. Health hazards from smoke inhalation are high, while the output f
Gender-based violence affects food security and nutrition
27/11/2017
Interview with FAO’s Deputy Director-General, Daniel Gustafson
New FAO-World Bank programme to scale up assistance for women, men and families in Yemen
17/10/2017
The $36 million joint project aims at providing immediate assistance to over 630,000 poor and food-insecure people in Yemen — more than 30 percent of whom are women — as well as increasing longer term agricultural resilience in the conflict-ridden country
Farming and rural non-farm activities can provide solutions to rising youth unemployment in Africa
12/10/2017
Although ten to 12 million young people join the labor force in Africa each year, only around three million jobs are created annually.
New FAO data highlights gender gap in food insecurity across regions
25/09/2017
Women are more likely to be food insecure than men in every region of the world, according to FAO’s latest report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017.
Leaving no one behind: FAO special event highlights rural women’s role in achieving global food and nutrition security
17/07/2017
Gender equality and women’s empowerment is central to FAO’s work in eradicating hunger and poverty, as it is to the entire 2030 Agenda. This was a key message among several discussed at the recent Special Event on “Leaving no one behind: Achieving gender