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Women and Food

Coodad is a women-led cacao growers cooperative established in 2017 on lands adjoining the Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, celebrated for its spectacular scenery and the world's last mountain gorillas. The cooperative emerged after regenerative chocolate company Original Beans focused expansion of production on women. Recognizing their role in forest management for firewood and in healing their war-torn communities, the company organized leadership and artisanal enterprise training for hundreds of women in the remote villages around Virunga Park. The "Femmes de Virunga” cooperative shares know-how and income from cacao crop sales with more and more women. In 2020, each participating woman planted more than fifty new trees on average, more than one hundred thousand in total. Communal forest conservation areas have grown to the size of thirteen thousand soccer fields.

Credit: Philipp Kauffmann

Women and Food

Call to action:

Empower women to be leaders in agriculture and in their households, communities, and governments as an essential strategy for building regenerative food systems.

Conventional male-dominated industrial agriculture and corporate food systems are major contributors to global carbon emissions and environmental degradation while leaving many hungry. Though women and gender-diverse people are disproportionately impacted by climate and food crises, when given authority within food systems, they often redefine and regenerate them. Thus, a key climate-action pathway is revealed where two major solutions overlap: the transformation of global food systems and the empowerment of girls, women, and gender-diverse people. Gender equity at local and leadership levels increases resilience in nations and communities, in disaster readiness, food and water security, and health. Climate-smart agriculture must redress structural and economic inequities by shifting the oversized burden women carry, removing barriers for women and gender-diverse farmers, securing their land rights, and strengthening their capacity to contribute and lead. If women had the same access to resources as men worldwide, they could grow 20 to 30 percent more food on the same amount of land, lifting 150 million people out of poverty and avoiding 2 billion tons of emissions between now and 2050.

Action Items

Individuals

Learn about the structural barriers that women face in agriculture, including lack of access to land, credit, and education. Reaching parity in terms of training, education, credit, and property rights is critical: women own a disproportionately small percentage of land worldwide, while they do a majority of the labor related to food production. Nine out of ten nations have at least one law impeding women’s economic opportunities, including access to credit and the ability to own land or property, and those with the most gender disparity are also the most food insecure. Here are some key points to learn:

Support organizations that amplify the agency of rural women farmers and marginalized groups involved in food systems. This can include financial or practical support of initiatives that value women’s traditional knowledge of land, farming, and culinary practices. Reach out to groups such as those listed below to find out how to volunteer, donate, or get involved.

Buy food from woman-owned, regenerative companies, farms, and restaurants. Women have been leaders and innovators in the organic, local food, and regenerative farming movements, such as the sustainable seaweed industry. Check regional guides and search engines to find farms, companies, restaurants, wineries, farmstands, and groceries that are owned or led by women.

  • This Food Network article recommends women-owned food companies to look for; another can be found here.
  • Grubhub has a directory of women-owned restaurants in the United States called RestaurantHer, and Google allows restaurants to identify as women-owned so that search results can be filtered.
  • Here are ten women-owned food companies bringing international cuisine to your kitchen.
  • Fifteen women-owned snack companies are recommended here.

Support organizations that strengthen connections among women farmers and provide opportunities for training and resource sharing. Networking has been shown to be key to the success of women in agriculture. Such initiatives can include improving access to conferences and trainings, developing platforms for building partnerships, and documenting and sharing their stories. Here is a list of a few such organizations:

Support groups working to combat gender-based violence in agricultural settings.  The Fair Food organization is an example of a worker-led group for reducing violence against female and nonbinary agricultural workers. Men and boys have an essential role in ending gender-based violence through actions such as understanding and practicing consent, addressing “toxic masculinity,” supporting women’s organizations, and working with youth.

Speak up. Submit an opinion piece to a newspaper or social media site advocating female leadership in food systems, parity for women on economic and political levels, and regenerative agriculture. Or write a longer piece for online sites such as Medium, like this one.

Join a social media group for women in the agriculture movement such as this one, or follow one of the organizations listed below, working on promoting women’s leadership in food systems.

Groups

Women and Gender-Diverse Farmers

Save seeds and get involved in a local seed exchange. Doing so is taking a direct part in grassroots, collective stewardship of genetic resources of agricultural seed and supporting biodiversity. Many seed-saving alliances and seed libraries are run specifically for and by women or have women leaders. These groups often have a focus on indigenous knowledge, connecting people with indigenous food systems. Some examples:

  • Qachuu Aloom is a predominantly female Maya Achi organization in Guatemala focused on saving heirloom seeds and promoting regenerative practices and traditional foods.
  • Vanastree is a women-run seed-saving collective in the Western Ghats of India, endorsing the biodiversity of forest home gardens and conservation education.
  • The Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library was started by Vivien Sansour to preserve traditional seeds and culture in occupied Palestine.
  • Women Seed Saving Kenya educates, encourages, and supports women on how to save their own seeds, especially local seeds adapted to the climate.
  • Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa made a short film about women seed savers in Uganda.
  • This article describes seed-saving projects run by women in Madagascar.

Connect and network with women involved in various aspects of the food supply chain. Links to value chains, from production through to processing and marketing, make agriculture more productive and commercially viable. When women forge connections with women-led food wholesalers, distributors, and restaurants, they strengthen the movement as a whole.

  • Women in the Food Industry is a networking organization connecting women across the food sector to improve communication and collaboration.
  • The Women’s Alliance Network within the Food Processing Suppliers Association provides support and connection for women in the food packaging and processing industry.
  • Women have innovated the grocery supply chain through software such as Pod Foods, helping small food companies connect with retailers.

Offer mentorship and support to new women farmers. Through leadership courses and events, experienced women can support others to succeed and thrive for the benefit of all. Some organizations and resources:

Take advantage of grant programs for women farmers and ranchers. Some of them are aimed at minority groups or those starting agricultural activities, while others are suitable for female farmers at any stage and from any background.  Here is a list of grants for women farmers in several categories.

Learn about how to apply regenerative practices at your farm or ranch. See the Regenerative Agriculture Nexus to learn more about approaches to farming that improve soil health and sequester carbon.

Investors

Invest in companies, projects, and funds that empower women in agriculture and food system design. Consider investing in organizations listed under Key Players. Some leaders in the field are:

  • Project DAWN (Dairy, Agriculture, Women, Nutrition) is a program of MoooFarm India that aims to engage 10 million women farmers in India to make smallholder dairy farming inclusive, sustainable, and efficient by connecting women to technology, finance, and markets.
  • The Women’s Global Empowerment Fund invests in women farmers in developing countries via microfinance and educational programs.
  • CARE promotes food security and climate resilience worldwide through working with local partners to promote women’s rights and economic empowerment.
  • Africa Exchange Holdings seeks to create better access to agricultural and financial markets for smallholder farmers by establishing commodity and equity markets in sub-Saharan Africa.

Organizations and Agencies

Use gender-specific data to design programs that recognize women’s contributions to food systems and the specific barriers they face. This requires identifying research gaps, supporting collaborative studies on gender issues, and incorporating gender analysis through the lifetime of climate-resilience and food-security initiatives. Women’s roles as producers, processors, and consumers often lack formal recognition by policymakers and program designers, leading to exclusion from important planning, financing, decision-making, and leadership roles. Across food system domains, it is critical that all actors recognize the specific limitations faced by women, as well as queer and nonbinary people.

Learn best practices for integrating and reinforcing women’s access and agency within food systems. Primary among them is cultural and gender sensitivity integrated throughout the life of a collaborative action or project partnership. This summary of lessons learned by international agencies involved in the work of closing the gender gap in agriculture discusses ways to cultivate systemic change while respecting local conditions and cultures. Some best practices:

  • Help women to reform discriminatory property laws, considering cultural context and how it affects adoption. That understanding can help address barriers to women’s land security and help with the development of incentives for positive change.
  • Build capacity in governments and communities through training on gender and land rights. Separate training for men and women have yielded more women’s involvement in addressing opposition to equal land rights.
  • Community-level collaboration and partnerships are crucial.  Local women must be central to identifying needs and designing and leading programs for change.
  • Solidarity is essential to achieving gender-parity objectives. Include men in interventions, recognizing them as important change agents in an intersectional movement and including their knowledge and concerns. In Zimbabwe, young men are trained as community leaders and advocates in the Men to Men Campaign against Gender-Based Violence and have reached thousands of youth with their message.

Prioritize women’s voices in determining policy and making decisions. Though women are a growing demographic in agriculture, they are underrepresented as leaders across the industry. Women’s leadership is needed in agricultural policy and in designing for food and water security worldwide. The Global Food 50/50 report was inaugurated in 2021 as a new mechanism for accountability around the gender gap in agricultural leadership, reviewing equity-related practices of fifty-two food system organizations in various sectors and from around the world.

Food and Agriculture Companies

Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for women in agribusiness through company policies and programs.

  • Encourage participation by women in your company in support groups such as Females in Food, an organization that aims to close the gender gap in women’s leadership in food companies by connecting women to mentorship and employment in the industry and helping them gain promotion.
  • Develop programs that uplift and educate women working in your industry, supporting them to hold positions of leadership.
  • Join the international Women in Food and Agriculture industry initiative and summit to learn how to gain support in developing strategies.

Protect women and gender-diverse people from violence in agricultural and work settings. Some steps to take are described here and summarized below:

  • Become informed about sexual violence and harassment among commercial agricultural workers, especially those in temporary or informal work settings.
  • Establish codes of conduct, policies, and reporting systems to address gender-based violence and harassment in your company’s own operations, as well as in supply chains. Here is a model policy that was applied to the flower sector in Africa.
  • Create a mandatory anti-harassment training program for workers in your company and its supply chain, such as this one created by the Ethiopian Horticulture Producer Exporters Association.
  • Involve workers’ organizations and unions in the design, implementation, and monitoring of policies and procedures.
  • Join industry-wide agreements, such as the Joint Understanding on Sexual Harassment, adopted by a number of large companies in the banana industry.

Create or connect with initiatives that support women’s leadership in food systems and strengthen women in agricultural supply chains. Examples of such measures include:

Develop culinary programs that benefit women, especially those from marginalized groups, such as refugees and minorities. Restaurateurs and culinary business owners have developed employment practices and training that cultivate sustainable livelihoods for womenThis article highlights the traveling Refugee Food Festival and a number of U.S.-based restaurants run by refugees. Here are a few inspiring examples of women's leadership in this realm:

  • Asma Khan is a restaurateur and cookbook author focusing on training and employing women, especially refugees, and empowering women in Iraq. Her organization, Emma’s Torch, based in New York City, provides English language, culinary, and job skills education.
  • Iman Alshehab is a founding member of Mera Kitchen Collective, a worker-owned, food-based cooperative in Baltimore focused on the empowerment of refugee and immigrant women by tapping into their passion for cooking, self-expression, and creating community.
  • Shaza Saker is a Syrian-Italian working for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization who created Hummustown, a catering company that trains and hires recent immigrants and refugees.

Governance

Reform legislation that restricts women’s ownership of property and resources and develop policies that promote equal land tenure. Not only is gender equality a fundamental right, but it also boosts economic and climate resilience. Beyond legal frameworks, special attention is needed to implement parity in property ownership due to existing patriarchal structures and cultural practices. Some examples include:

Expand technical and financial assistance and credit to women farmers. Gender equity at household and community levels correlates to higher agricultural productivity and improvements in family nutrition.  Governments and other financial service providers with a presence in rural areas can play a key role in supporting women farmers.

Invest in the training and education of girls. Equal inclusion in food systems begins with equal education for girls.  Digital literacy is also crucial for women’s ability to adopt new technologies in regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.

Promote better representation of women in agriculture, politics, and society. Prioritize women’s voices in decision-making, especially in designing resilient food and water systems at multiple levels, from the national to the village scale.

  • The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a survey-based index developed by the U.S. government to measure the agency and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector, which can help administrations assess gender parity, identify key areas for change, design a plan for better inclusion, and track progress over time.

Gather gender-differentiated data related to agriculture and food security. Information regarding access to land, finance, credit, and training is crucial to ensuring that agricultural extension services (educational opportunities outside of formalized settings) can be calibrated to women’s needs.

  • The CGIAR Generating Evidence and New Directions for Equitable Results (GENDER) Platform supports leaders and decision-makers in developing evidence and taking collective action toward eliminating gender inequalities in food systems. The platform builds collaborative relationships with national agricultural research and extension systems, university partners, nongovernmental organizations, multilateral and private sector institutions, as well as governments to achieve this mission.

Learn

Watch

The Key to the Future of Food (Audra Mulkern TEDxSeattle talk on female farmers)

Women in the Agricultural Workplace (AgCareers documentary)

Rise, Root, Revolution (feature-length documentary to be released)

Listen

HERd Podcast: Women in Agriculture is a series featuring women farmers using regenerative practices that are changing the way food is grown.

Women in Food and Agriculture is a podcast featuring interviews of women leaders in diverse sectors of the food industry.

The Female Farmer Project includes a weekly podcast.

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