Gender, Youth and Inclusion

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ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION

Our vision at the Alliance is to foster gender-equitable, socially inclusive food systems that sustain the planet, drive prosperity, and nourish all people. In food systems, women play important roles as farmers, entrepreneurs, and seed custodians, whilst many balance this work with a household role as a career. Often, women with a strong lineage to their homelands hold unique knowledge about local agricultural practices, passing this knowledge on to future generations. Yet, despite their essential contributions to food systems, women tend to have less decision-making authority than men, earning lower wages and resources.

In addition to the intrinsic value of greater equality between women and men, it is estimated that closing the gender gap in agriculture could increase global GDP by 1%: nearly $1 trillion USD. This would reduce global food insecurity by about 2%, improving the lives of approximately 45 million people (FAO, 2023).

The International Year of the Woman Farmer

Women, young people, Indigenous Peoples, and rural communities can be innovators, entrepreneurs, and change makers in our food systems. But we have to close gender gaps.

The United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer in order to spotlight the often unrecognized and undervalued roles that women hold across agrifood systems.

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When Women Lead, Food and Land Systems Thrive: The International Year of the Woman Farmer

Integrating Gender across Alliance and CGIAR Research

The Alliance’s research on gender and social inclusion develops strategies to improve gender equality and social inclusion in food, land and water systems, using qualitative and quantitative participatory research methods. This work is interdisciplinary and demand driven, focusing on understanding and addressing the drivers of inequality, both by empowering women and young people, and through gender-transformative approaches, which tackle the root causes of inequality.

In the CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform, the Alliance leads the ‘Alliances Module’, focusing on partnerships and capacity building. We also co-lead a CGIAR Community of Practice on gender-transformative research.

Within the Alliance, our team of gender researchers leads a ‘Nexus Enabler’ on gender and social inclusion, sharing knowledge with researchers from other work areas on how to conduct gender-sensitive research, ensuring that all the Alliance’s work empowers women and addresses the norms and policies that perpetuate gender and social inequality.

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Gender, youth and inclusion: Integrating gender across Alliance and CGIAR research

Explore more about Our Approach to Gender Research

The Alliance’s Gender Research Themes

Inclusive Market Systems and Entrepreneurship

What is needed for market systems to benefit women and young people? What norms and practices must change for women and marginalized groups to fully participate in food systems? This research area addresses women’s roles in market systems, from production to sale to consumption (especially in relation to beans, bananas, livestock, tree products and local crops), whilst considering their workloads and aspirations. Explore more

Gender in Farm Management, Agroecology, and Ecological Restoration

How do policies and practices for agroecology, ecological restoration and farm management affect women’s agency, and how is this influenced by women’s and men’s differing priorities and knowledge? This theme explores how agroecology and ecosystem restoration can strengthen women’s empowerment. Explore more

Gender and Climate Action

How do the impacts of climate change affect women, men and young people differently? How do measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change influence these dynamics? This theme considers gender equality in the design of and access to climate-smart technologies and climate services. Given the increasing importance of climate action, developing gender-equitable action plans is an increasing priority area. Explore more

Gender, Biodiversity and Seed Systems

How do gender and social inclusion influence the management of biodiversity for food and agriculture? How do measures to protect agrobiodiversity involve women and men differently? The Alliance promotes the incorporation of traditional and indigenous practices for nature-positive solutions, rethinking inclusive and profitable seed systems, and sharing inter-generational knowledge on agrobiodiversity for biodiverse ecosystems and healthy diets. Explore more

Digital Inclusion

While digital financial services are transforming many people’s lives, not all population groups benefit equally, to the disadvantage of women in particular. The Alliance co-designs digital financial services for diverse food systems actors, especially female entrepreneurs with small and medium-sized businesses. In this research area, we explore solutions to reduce the gap between women’s and men’s access to digital technologies and financial tools in food, land and water systems. Explore more

Gender in Restoration, On-farm Crop Management and Agroecology - Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT

Gender, Crop Improvement and other Technologies

Who gains from crop improvement programs? Where are they, what are their needs, and how do we address them? Do women’s and men’s preferences differ, and how are these preferences addressed? How do we incorporate social inclusion into crop breeding? Gender-sensitive and demand-led breeding are growing areas of research. Explore more

Strategic Analysis for Impact with a Gender Focus

We measure food systems change indicators for key outcomes, highlighting the role and changes in gender dynamics across value chains. Our research identifies variables of women's adoption of food systems innovations, and demonstrates their impact on household resilience and women's empowerment. Explore more