Rural women
Gender inequality is one of the biggest impediments to sustainable development. Without tackling its root causes, we cannot end global hunger and poverty
IFAD’s Gender Transformative Mechanism (GTM) aims to equip over 20 million rural people across 20 countries with the information and innovations they need to adapt to climate change by 2030. Generously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it incentivises governments to achieve gender-transformative results in the agriculture sector at scale.
Billions of rural people rely on small-scale farming for an income, but climate change and the degradation of natural resources threaten the ecosystems that they depend on. Despite being at the front lines of the climate crisis, smallholder farmers receive just 0.8 per cent of global climate finance.
And while women produce up to 80 per cent of the food in low- and middle-income countries, deep-rooted gender-based discrimination means they have limited access to resources to build resilience to climate change.
A comprehensive approach that delivers climate finance to women farmers while changing deep-seated gender disparities is needed.
Four out of five people forced to leave their homes after a climate disaster are women.
Just 20 per cent of National Adaptation Plans have a dedicated budget for activities related to gender equality.
Just 4 per cent of Official Development Assistance is dedicated to programmes with gender equality as the main objective.
Female-headed households experience higher income losses due to heat stress and floods compared to male-headed households.