Asia must knock down gender barriers to secure food future - Study
MANILA, Philippines: Labour and land ownership laws throughout the
Asia-Pacific region must change if women are to reach their full
potential as farmers and food production workers, according to a new
report prepared jointly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Food
and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO)."Removing the
barriers women face in their roles as food producers, farm workers, and
primary caregivers is achievable and inexpensive," said Practice Leader
for Agriculture, Food Security and Rural Development in the Regional and
Sustainable Development Department at ADB, Lourdes Adriano.

A factory in China |
"Paying women a decent wage, improving their access to tools,
fertiliser, and credit, and guaranteeing their right to own and access
land will have a huge multiplier effect on food security and hunger
reduction."
The report, Gender Equality and Food Security - Women's Empowerment
as a Tool Against Hunger, authored by UN Special Rapporteur on the Right
to Food, Olivier de Schutter, takes an in-depth look at women's role in
food production, nutrition, and access to food in the region, and the
steps needed to remove the barriers facing them.
Worldwide, around 60% of undernourished people are women or girls,
and data shows that giving them access to education and employment
opportunities has a strikingly large impact on reducing overall hunger
and improving child health and education.
However, restrictions on female land ownership, limited access to
credit and farm advisory services and lack of education hamper women's
ability to produce and access more food and earn decent incomes.
An FAO study estimates that closing the gender gap in access to
productive resources such as land, credit, machinery or chemicals could
eliminate yield gaps of 20% to 30% among women and men, increase
domestic agricultural output by 2.5% to 4%, and mean up to 100 million
fewer people living in hunger.
Even rural women working off-farm in low-skill jobs in agribusiness
face gender discrimination and low wages. To address these problems, the
report recommends that policymakers tackle laws and regulations which
discriminate against women, particularly in land ownership, initiate
programs to boost gender equality in agriculture and the labour market,
while updating education and employment policies to be more gender
sensitive.
Food security strategies must also be developed to improve women's
access to childcare, farmer support mechanisms, and credit and
agricultural services. Social protection programs, such as active labour
market programs with targets for women's employment should also be
fine-tuned to incorporate women's needs. |