CSW68: Intervention by FAO - challenges and opportunities for rural women and girls

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, all protocol observed, 

1- Closing the gender gap in agrifood systems is essential to eradicating hunger, malnutrition, reducing rural poverty and building the resilience of households to shocks and crises.  

2- Last year, FAO published a flagship report on the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems, that reported that more than a third of working women work in agrifood systems, and in low- and middle-income countries, these numbers can be as high as 66 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and 71 percent in Southern Asia.  

3- Despite the fact that women rely heavily on agrifood systems for their livelihoods, the conditions under which women work in the sector are unequal.  

Women are more likely to be in poorly paid, vulnerable, part-time or low-skilled work in the sector, and in fact, women working for wages in agriculture make on average just 82 cents on the dollar compared to men. They also suffer from gaps in their access to assets, especially land, resources and services, which not only reduce their productivity by 24% on farms of the same size, but also reduce their food security, incomes and resilience. Discriminatory social norms are also at the heart of gender inequalities in agrifood systems, and yet are slow to change. 

4- FAO found that investments to close the gaps in women's wages and productivity in agrifood systems could have a one-off benefit of increasing global GDP by 1 percent - or nearly $1 trillion dollars – and help 45 million people achieve food security. Additionally, the report called all actors to ensure that their policies and investments were intentionally focused on empowering women – as doing so can have a significant impact on increasing household income, food security and resilience.  

Moreover, FAO - in a just launched report The Unjust Climate estimated that the losses that female headed farming household suffer from climate change are 34 percent higher for every 1 degree increase in global temperatures. Ensuring an intentional focus on women's empowerment could not be more urgent. 

5- These findings and the associated calls to action have led FAO, in coordination with other UN and multilateral agencies, Member States, civil society organizations, philanthropic foundations, the private sector, among other actors; to launch a process called “Commit to Grow Equality” that encourages stakeholders to commit to investments and partnerships to increase gender equality and women's empowerment in agrifood systems.  

FAO advocates for investment in solutions which have proven to work and require scale – such as improving women's ownership and registration of land, investing in social protection and formal childcare for women in rural areas, and adopting approaches which combine increasing access to assets and resources with reducing and addressing discriminatory social norms. 

6- This process is in line with FAO's active participation in the negotiations of Financing for Development towards the Fourth International Conference in 2025, focusing on preventing and mitigating food crises and transforming agrifood systems, including to make them work better for women. 

8- Empowering women and investing in gender equality is a must to have resilient, INCLUSIVE and sustainable agrifood systems. FAO stands ready to tackle gender inequality and promote women's empowerment in agrifood systems, striving for increased equality by scaling up investments and partnerships, for rural women and all women and girls, today and every day, delivering on SDG 5 and 2 to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

Thank you.