La publicación 'El Poder de Ser Mujer' es una muestra de  los avances de las asociaciones de campesinas y campesinos pobres que con el apoyo organizativo, financiero y técnico del Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA) y de los gobiernos locales trabajan  para producir y vender más alimentos,  cuidar el ambiente en el que viven,  aumentar sus ingresos y determinar  la orientación de sus vidas.

Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty - Status, trends and gaps (2011) There’s no debate about the importance of women for rural economic growth and poverty reduction. They fill many crucial roles, as farmers, wage labourers and small-scale entrepreneurs, as well as caretakers of children and the elderly. Rural women have the potential to lift their households and communities out of poverty. But they are hampered by persistent gender inequities that limit their access to decent work, which they need as a vehicle for economic empowerment, social advancement and political participation.

Lightening the Load: Labour-saving technologies and practices for rural women (2010) Women’s multiple responsibilities and heavy workload affects their ability to care for their families and participate in local decision making and development interventions.  Ensuring women’s access to labour-saving technologies for water, energy and farm-related activities is fundamental, and the need for such technologies is greater than it has ever been before.  This report looks back at three decades of experiences in introducing labour-saving technologies and practices to rural women and persisting gender discrimination in access and control. It also takes into account major developments in science, technology and innovation over the last several years and shows they can benefit women.

Promoting women's leadership in farmers' and rural producers' organizations (2010). In most developing countries, women undertake a large part of the agricultural work. Yet women's role in agriculture remains largely unrecognized. Their voices and concerns as farmers are scarcely heard at the national and global levels. One reason is that there are not enough women in leadership positions in rural producer organizations. As one moves from the grassroots to national levels, the trend becomes even more pronounced. The result is a disproportionate mismatch between rural women's voices and decisionmaking roles and their enormous contribution to agricultural marketing, production and rural livelihoods. (Arabic | French | Spanish)

Gender and rural micro-finance: Reaching and empowering women.  A guide for practitioners (2009) Innovations in financial services, particularly in microfinance, have enabled millions of women and men in rural areas to gain access to credit and banking services.  Nevertheless, serious challenges remain.  This comprehensive gender and rural microfinance guide is designed for use by technical  and microfinance institutions, gender practitioners working in rural finance, and academic researchers in the fields of gender and microfinance. The guide describes how financial institutions should take into account the needs of their clients when designing products such as credit, savings, insurance and remittances. It puts emphasis on demand-driven product development, such as market research and financial. Arabic | English | French | Spanish

Gender and non-timber forest products (2008) Women producers operating in informal non-timber forest product sector in developing countries face discrimination and many obstacles. This publication draws on IFAD's broad experience in the sector to highlight the multiple challenges – in division of labour, differences in access to credit and market information, and environmental issues – and present ways to expand the role of women as agents of change in this sector.

Gender, Remittances and Development: The Case of Filipino Migration to Italy (2008) This study prepared with the support of a grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
shows how gender issues influence migration, remittances and local rural development. Testimonies collected from Filipino migrants in Italy that women conceive their migratory project as a self-sacrifice for the well-being of future generations. Women therefore develop a strategy based on savings and the control of their spending habits to ensure remittances reach their households in the Philippines. Remittances are mainly used to finance basic household consumption, but can become also investments into the purchase of land and technology for agricultural production and for the education of migrants’ children and siblings. Migration and remittances have also decreased women’s participation in agricultural activities.

Gender and Water (2007) This review examines the impact of water-related projects on women, women’s role in managing water resources and the constraints women face in gaining access to water. It presents lessons learned in promoting women’s participation in decision-making for water management using experiences from several IFAD-supported water programmes and projects. It highlights the innovative activities and catalysts that have helped to address gender issues in water programmes and projects. And it offers recommendations on how to improve women’s access to water resources through equitable development and gender mainstreaming.

Polishing the stone: A journey through the promotion of gender equality in development projects (2007) Polishing the stone offers insights into the concepts of gender equality and gender mainstreaming and provides concrete examples of how the two concepts relate to development. The book shares knowledge and experience that IFAD has gained and the lessons learned from both successes and failures in our efforts to involve and empower women and men equally to fully benefit from and participate in development initiatives. These insights are based on the experiences of poor rural people, expressed in their own words, describing their daily lives and realities, and how they confront and deal with the challenges posed by gender differentiated roles and responsibilities.

Gender and desertification: Expanding roles for women to restore drylands (2006) This review examines the impact of desertification on women, their role in the management of natural resources and drylands, and the constraints they face.  It presents the experiences of several IFAD supported programmes and projects in addressing women as natural resource users and managers in dryland areas, and highlights some of the approaches used to reach women more effectively. It also presents lessons learned from IFAD programmes and projects, and recommendations for expanding women’s roles in order to restore dryland areas.

Rural Women’s Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries (2004) This study provides information on the historical background, implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It also summarizes information provided in reports of selected countries to the Committee from 1997 to 2003, with specific reference to women’s access to land and property, and their inheritance rights and legal capacity. As such it is a valuable tool for all those wishing to engage in advocacy and policy dialogue in favour of rural women and joint efforts to achieve compliance.

Women as Agents of Change (2003) This discussion paper prepared for IFAD's governing council focuses on issues that are crucial for addressing structural inequalities and releasing women’s potential as agents of change. These include increasing women's access to and control over basic assets, participation in decision making, and the provision of appropriate infrastructure and services. It also highlights the important role of men in achieving gender equality. 
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An IFAD approach to gender mainstreaming: The experience of Latin America and the Caribbean  (2002) This publication documents IFAD's experiences in gender mainstreaming in Latin America and the Caribbean. It describes why gender mainstreaming is important to the region, plots the development of the Fund's integrated gender approach and highlights key strengths and weaknesses of the ongoing process. More specific sector approaches and tools are discussed along with future directions and a case study in El Salvador. 
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Rural women in IFAD's projects: The key to poverty alleviation (1998) This publication, produced to commemorate IFAD’s 20th anniversary, highlights the strong relationship between poverty, household food security and the marginalisation of women, and gives examples of IFAD’s strategies, approaches and experiences in addressing gender and household food security issues.   As well as explaining the evolution of IFAD’s gender approach and strategies up until that time, the document includes IFAD’s analysis, learning and case studies of gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment in several sub-sectors, such as microenterprise, livestock, savings and credit and household food