Women play essential roles across agrifood systems, producing, processing and trading food that sustains families, communities and economies. Yet their contributions often go unrecognized, and persistent inequalities limit their access to resources, opportunities and decision making.
The International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF 2026) highlights these realities, calls for collective action and increased investments to close gender gaps, strengthen women’s livelihoods and promote their leadership across agrifood value chains. By advancing gender equality and creating conditions for women and girls engaged along agrifood value chains to thrive, the Year contributes to building fairer, more inclusive and sustainable agrifood systems for all.
Empowered women farmers are key agents of change in transforming agrifood systems. Closing gender gaps in access to land, finance, technology, education and decision-making enhances the well-being of women and their households, boosts productivity, strengthens resilience to climate change and drives progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Women farmers: who they are and what they do
Women farmers are all women working in agrifood systems in different capacities across all segments of value chains. This includes farmers, producers, peasants, family and smallholder farmers, seasonal laborers, fishers, fish workers, beekeepers, pastoralists, foresters, processors, traders, traditional knowledge holders, women in agricultural sciences, formal and informal workers, and rural entrepreneurs. They encompass women in all their diversity, including young and older women, Indigenous women and women in local communities, women with disabilities, refugee and displaced women, and others.
The definition is inclusive of women in both formal and informal work, recognizing their contributions regardless of land ownership or employment status. It reflects the diverse and essential roles all women play in sustaining agrifood systems including through leadership, care and domestic work, while supporting food security, contributing to economic prosperity, and improving nutrition and livelihoods for their families and communities.
Key Messages
Agrifood systems are a major employer of women globally
In many countries, agrifood systems are a more important source of livelihood for women than for men.
Despite their essential role in agrifood systems, women farmers face more precarious working conditions, heavier workloads, and unequal access to resources
Their roles are often marginalized, and their working conditions are typically worse than men’s – irregular, informal, part-time, low-waged, labour-intensive and thus vulnerable.
Women farmers throughout value chains face persistent gaps in access to land, services, capital, inputs, education, and technology
And in the face of extreme heat, extreme precipitation and droughts, women increase their work burden more than men.
Securing women’s land rights strengthens agrifood systems and rural development and helps communities to thrive
Women remain behind in securing access, management, and ownership of land, and face discrimination or inadequate legal protection in these areas. Enhancing women’s land rights boosts their empowerment, investment capacity, sustainability, and resilience, while improving access to services, reducing gender-based violence, and strengthening their bargaining power.
Women’s empowerment is a key area of investment for rural development, prosperity and environmental protection, and critical to accelerating the transition to more sustainable agrifood systems
Empowering women farmers can enhance the well-being of women and their households, reduce hunger, increase dietary diversity, boost incomes and economies, and strengthen the resilience of populations.
Rural young women frequently face specific challenges in accessing resources
Due to generational and gendered power dynamics, as well as structural, economic, social and spatial constraints. Greater unpaid and domestic care responsibilities contribute to keeping young women out of education, employment and training.