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Women are actively engaged in agrifood systems, contributing greatly to agricultural value-chains, food security and nutrition and rural development, but they are often left behind in accessing resources and opportunities, decision-making and leadership. Discriminatory social norms and rules affect women's opportunities in agrifood systems, restricting their access to essential resources and services, such as natural resources, inputs, services, finance, and technology, including digital technology.  

Policy frameworks, legislation and investment plans are important enablers of gender equality and women’s empowerment for inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable agrifoodsystems.FAO’s 2023 report on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems recommends adopting targeted legal measures to close the gender gaps in agrifood systems, which would enhancethe well-being of women and their households, reduce hunger and malnutrition, boost incomes and strengthen resilience. 

Legal frameworks have a crucial role to play in addressing the structural determinants of gender inequality by integrating gender-responsive approaches in the design of sectoral legislation. They provide the foundations for protecting women's rights and ensuring equal access to resources and opportunities in agrifood systems. They can create an enabling environment for women's empowerment and contribute to closing gender gaps in agrifood systems. Gender-responsive legal frameworks not only remove legal barriers to equal opportunities, but also recognise and address the social, cultural, economic and administrative challenges that constrain women and prevent them from enjoying their rights equally with men. These legal frameworks incorporate measures in line with key international legal instruments and international processes related to gender equality. These include inter alia, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Sustainable Development Goals, the Food Systems Summit, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)’s Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, and the Global Parliamentary Pact against Hunger and Malnutrition that was adopted in June 2023. 

To support countries in developing gender-responsive legal frameworks that reflectthese international obligations and commitments, in December 2023 FAO launched Gender-Lex, a new online legal database under FAOLEX, dedicated to advancing gender equality in agrifood systems through transformative legal frameworks. It provides access to national and regional legal instruments on gender equality in food and agriculture, highlighting national legislations, regulations and policies that determine women and men’s ability to enjoy and exercise their rights in the political, economic, cultural and family spheres. It also highlights gender-responsive national approaches that seek to address gender inequalities proactively through sectoral legislation. The database is unique in providing access to a repository of temporary special measures that countries have adopted to strengthen gender equality in agrifood systems. This information expands the knowledge of the types of temporary special measures that exist worldwide, and sheds light on how countries are using them in general and sectoral legislation to achieve gender equality in practice.