Gender in Agriculture

Raj Paroda

Executive Secretary

APAARI

Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions

Bangkok, Thailand

GENDER IN AGRICULTURE

• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) laid emphasis on removal of key obstacles for advancement of women the world over

• Gender inequalities continue to persist despite women making up nearly half of the world’s agricultural force

• In agriculture, not much has happened. Few recent reports: FAO (2010) and World Bank (2012)

• For the first time, a Global Conference on Women in Agriculture (GCWA) was held on13-15 March, in New Delhi

Global Conference on Women in Agriculture

Overarching Goal • Empowering Women for Inclusive Growth in Agriculture Objectives

• To discuss and deliberate the prevailing and

emerging gender issues in agriculture

• To have evidence on experiences in enhancing

role of women in agriculture

• To understand the mechanisms and approaches

adopted by various organizations and countries

• To ensure that policy initiatives are gender sensitive

and there is a Framework for Action

Participants

• 760 participants from 50 countries participated

• Co-Sponsors: ICAR, APAARI, GFAR, CGIAR, USAID,ACIAR,

ADB, World Bank, IDRC, UK Aid, BMGF, TAAS, RAGA

Global Conference on Women in Agriculture

Conference Structure:

Policy Fora • Reforms in empowering women in agriculture • Institutional changes for capacity building Parallel Sessions • Assessing women’s empowerment in agriculture • Agricultural innovations for reducing drudgery • Linking women to markets • Role of women in household food and nutritional security • Access to assets, resources and knowledge: policies and

services • Impact and responses to climate change related risks and

uncertainties: their impact Plenary Sessions • Strengthening capacity building and partnerships • Need assessment and future strategy • Toward more effective joint action Also, there were three working Groups, Poster Presentations (242) and Innovation Market Place

Global Conference on Women in Agriculture

Priority Areas for Action: • Making importance of gender in agriculture more

visible and recognized

• Strengthening evidence and knowledge to address specific needs of farm women

• Promote collective action and leadership of rural women and address effectively existing discrimination.

• Establishing rights to ownership and access to resources to ensure inclusive growth

• Promoting partnership through coordination and convergence at national, regional and global scale

Global Conference on Women in Agriculture

Next Steps: • GCWA synthesis report now available on the website of

Co-organizers ( ICAR, APAARI, GFAR) • Participatory multi-stakeholder process to be facilitated by

GFAR to build Gender in Agriculture Partnership (GAP) • A draft proposal for GAP to be presented at GCARD2 for

further discussion and general agreement/endorsement • The GCWA be held regularly in future. The next to be

hosted by FARA in Africa in 2015 in order to assess the progress on Action Plan

Key Message:

Woman Farmer First

Global Conference on Women in Agriculture

“In order to awaken the people, it is the women who have to be awakened. Once she is on the move, the family moves, the village

moves, the nation moves.” Jawaharlal Nehru, the First Prime Minister of India

www.gcwa2012.in