No meaningful progress without women: Gender equality a must for food security and resilience – FAO

04-May-2026 Last updated on 04-May-2026 at 02:42 GMT - Empowering women farmers is crucial for improving food security, climate resilience, and rural livelihoods in Asia and the Pacific. - Closing gender gaps in productivity and wages could add up to US$1 trillion to global GDP and lift approximately 45 million people out of food insecurity. - Achieving real change requires tackling discrimination, institutional biases, and policy gaps, as well as expanding access to financial products, technical training, and market information for women farmers. According to Alue Dohong, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of FAO, women are the “backbone” of agriculture in the region with nearly 58 per cent of all employed women across Asia and the Pacific working in agriculture. “And yet, for all their labour, women farmers continue to face persistent and systemic barriers,” Dohong said a statement ahead of the 38th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the ...