Women are the nucleus of our global food system – but their value is undermined by the patriarchy

As the world’s attention falls on redesigning food systems to deliver safe and healthy food, livelihoods, and environments for all, it is equally important to ensure that the human rights of half of its producers and consumers – women – are not left behind.

Access to safe and nutritious food is a human right. We must then ask ourselves why the rights of hundreds of millions of women who work within food systems – including their right to equal acknowledgement, access to resources, and the opportunity for empowerment – have long been limited by patriarchal systems.

Women are the nucleus of our global food system, often taking responsibility for household nutrition and are also directly involved in raising livestock and tending to crops. And this is not even counted in the burden of unpaid care, of which women carry out two-thirds worldwide, three times more than men.

Instead, the importance of women in food systems is undermined by oppressive social, legal, and economic systems that persist worldwide.

The answer, then, is not to expect women to take sole responsibility for their own empowerment when the odds are stacked against them. Rather, we must change the very system that has led to women owning less land than men, having less access to crucial agricultural technologies, and receiving less financial and expert aid than men, despite accounting for, on average, 43 per cent of agricultural labour in developing countries.

The value of women to food systems is why gender equality has been identified by the UN Food Systems Summit as a “lever of change”, because a fairer, more gender-equal system is one that is best placed to decisively end hunger, poverty and inequality around the world.

This can be achieved through driving overarching and systemic change that allows women in food systems a fair chance to achieve equality.

One crucial step would be a “Global 50/50 Initiative”, which aims to inspire action and accountability for gender equality and food systems equity around the world. Such an initiative would establish a global index on the state of gender equality in our national, regional, and global food systems.

This would help identify gaps and shortcomings to catalyse the changes in policy and practice needed to ensure women are equally served by food systems. For instance, the initiative may require member organisations to have diverse leadership and equal pay, as well as policies that address sexual harassment, and enshrine gender objectives and outcomes on the empowerment of women.

Secondly, supporting more gender transformative policies and institutions will also help to redress the vast imbalances present in our global food systems. Gender transformative policies and institutions address structural inequalities, which will then enable equal rights for women to own resources such as land, operate bank accounts, and rise above traditionally prescribed social norms.

This can be done by enshrining gender-transformative activities, budgets, and initiatives in national legislation, ensuring that every step forward is taken with a gender lens to address the underlying causes of gender inequality.

Uganda and Rwanda are two examples of sub-Saharan African countries that have successfully adopted gender budgeting efforts that integrate gender-related goals into budget policies and programmes.

Finally, women need greater financial inclusion to help level the playing field, which includes providing lines of credit and financial products that directly cater to the unique needs of women in food systems and address the bureaucratic processes that often hinder women’s access to financial services and resources.

Empowering women with the tools and resources they need is a joint enterprise between the public and private sectors, with the added benefit of unlocking an untapped market that represents half of the global population.

If countries are serious about leveraging food systems to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals, then the commitments that will be made at the UN Food Systems Summit must also pay special attention to addressing systemic gender inequality.

Just as access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food is a human right, human rights remain women’s rights.

Dr Jemimah Njuki, is the UN Food Systems Summit custodian for Gender and Women’s Empowerment, and director for Africa at International Food Policy Research Institute