NEW YORK―Correcting the gender gap in agri-food systems would dramatically reduce the worldwide hunger rate, raise the incomes of hundreds of millions of people and add $1 trillion to global gross domestic product, offering one of the most effective pathways towards the common objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Some 75 percent of agricultural and rural development policy documents from 68 developing countries recognize women’s roles and challenges, indicating awareness of the issue. Yet only 19 percent of these have actual policy goals related to gender, underscoring the need for more focus and commitment.
With the aim of promoting greater alignment of policy and outcomes on gender, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched Commit to Grow Equality (CGE), a mechanism to accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment in agri-food systems through financing, investments and partnerships by enabling a diverse range of actors to report against a strategic set of commitments.
“We have the evidence to show us how to overcome gender gaps―evidence that calls upon all of us to act, collectively and urgently,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said at “Commit to Grow Equality: Invest in the Future of Women and Girls,” a high-level action event pitching CGE during the UN General Assembly.
“Closing these gaps and empowering women and girls in agri-food systems would greatly improve economic growth, food security, access to healthy diets and resilience for women, their households and their communities, particularly in rural areas,” he said.
High-level speakers at the CGE event included ministers from Ireland, Norway and Türkiye among others, some of whom announced new resource commitments to the initiative. Others included representatives from Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Zambia and other members, as well as major UN agencies, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
The CGE initiative, formally begun earlier this year, has attracted partners across sectors and could benefit up to 54 million women worldwide, more than one of every 10 women working in agrifood systems. To support this, an estimated $1 billion of investments will initially be aligned to CGE.
Central to the Commit to Grow Equality initiative is a Commitments Matrix, which enables stakeholders to consider and articulate the concrete commitments that can be brought to make a tangible difference in the lives of women and girls.
One of the overarching objectives is to increase the number and value of projects that are gender transformative from the design through implementation stages.
Others include increasing linkages and synergies between financial commitments being made on climate change, resilience and other areas, and bolstering and expanding partnerships between the array of actors pursuing policies and investments to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems. FAO News
