FAO, IFAD and ILO are organizing a three-day technical expert workshop on “Gaps, trends and current research in gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: differentiated pathways out of poverty”, which will be held in Rome, from 31 March to 2 April 2009.
Why gender and rural employment?
Rural employment is currently the subject of considerable discussion in international policy circles, particularly in the context of the global financial and food crises, as it could play a very powerful role in reducing poverty worldwide, thereby contributing to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
It is increasingly recognized that rural employment is central to achieving equitable growth and poverty reduction but yet it offers different opportunities for participation in labour markets and different conditions of employment for men and women. In fact, gender inequality is a matter of global concern, with regard to disparities in life opportunities between men and women, including participation in the public sphere. And, if gender inequality is highly variable between regions and labour sectors, there is evidence that, globally, women’s benefits from rural employment, including both self-employment and wage employment, are less than men’s in all four decent work pillars
- employment creation and enterprise development
- social protection
- standards and rights at work
- governance and social dialogue)
What is this workshop about?
This technical expert workshop:
- aims at analyzing trends and issues, identifying gaps, best practice and knowledge, and providing suggestions and recommendations to define future research programmes and to support policy making processes;
- will gather experts of different countries, profile and background (42 papers have been selected out of about 200 submitted) along with participants of UN agencies and international organizations;
- will create the basis for a network of concerned policy makers, researchers and practitioners committed to promoting gender equitable rural employment and decent work;
- will lead to 3 main outputs:
- A short workshop report summarizing issues discussed, conclusions and recommendations;
- A publication of the workshop papers, including an introductory chapter highlighting the main issues and findings;
- A series of policy briefs, to be translated into 4 languages.
- will constitute a solid set of inputs for the forthcoming work of the SOFA 2010, focusing on “Gender and agriculture” and the 2009 IFAD Rural Poverty Report.
