Women: Transforming food systems for empowerment and equity

Women are actively involved in food systems in a range of roles from production and processing to retailing and consumption. Women grow and manage crops, tend livestock, work in agribusinesses and food retailing, prepare food for their families, and much more. But women’s contributions to food systems are often not formally recognized, and women often face constraints that prevent them from engaging on terms that are equitable and fair. In many countries, women have less schooling than men, control fewer resources, have less decision-making power over household income, and face time constraints because of their triple burden of productive, domestic, and community responsibilities. Gender also intersects with other spheres of vulnerability and identity—including ethnicity, age, and poverty—to further impact how women engage in food systems. For instance, across the food system, young women seeking to become entrepreneurs can face multiple constraints based on gender, age, and the nature of work in the informal sector. If they are married, they may face additional challenges, falling through programming cracks if they are no longer in school, have to care for young children or other family members, or lack the resources required to do business in the food system. The transformation of food systems toward more efficient and sustainable production processes and longer value chains, in combination with shifts in diets toward greater consumption of prepared foods, offers a range of new opportunities for women, but may also create new barriers to participation.