Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow

02/03/2022

Gender equality is essential to achieve FAO’s mandate of a world free from hunger, malnutrition and poverty. The Organization recognizes that persisting inequalities between women and men are a major obstacle to agriculture and rural development and that eliminating these disparities is essential to building sustainable and inclusive food systems and resilient and peaceful societies.

FAO contributes to reducing gender inequalities through its work on norms and standards, data and information, policy dialogue, capacity development, knowledge and technologies, partnerships, and advocacy and communication.

You are invited to browse through a selection of publications focusing on this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, "Gender Equality for a Sustainable Tomorrow".

Women's leadership and gender equality in climate action and disaster risk reduction in Africa − A call for action
Rural women are particularly affected by climate change, due to their limited access to and control over agricultural resources and their limited participation in decision-making processes. It is therefore urgent to centre gender equality and women’s leadership in climate action.

Rural Women and Girls 25 years after Beijing − critical agents of positive change
This document highlights key facts and good practices from the members of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) in the areas of education, food security and nutrition, health, public life, gender-based violence, and resilience in the context of climate change.

Gender transformative approaches for food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture – A compendium of fifteen good practices
These 15 approaches address gender inequality issues, including unequal workloads, gender-based violence and women’s unequal access to resources. The compendium also includes ideas on how to scale up gender transformative approaches.

Further reading

• FAO Policy on Gender Equality 2020–2030
• NENA Regional Network on Nutrition-sensitive Food System. Empowering women and ensuring gender equality in agrifood systems to achieve better nutrition
• Involving women and youth in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Ghana
• Supporting an enabling legal environment for women’s empowerment in food and agriculture

For more publications on gender equality and women’s empowerment please see FAO Gender − Resources.