JPRWEE Programme
The Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women (JPRWEE) secures rural women's livelihoods, rights and resilience.
Rural women - IFAD
Rural women
82 cents
earned by women in agriculture for US$1 earned by men
earned by women in agriculture for US$1 earned by men
50+%
IFAD project participants are women
IFAD project participants are women
70%
people trained in income-generating activities by IFAD were women
people trained in income-generating activities by IFAD were women
©IFAD/Imani Nsamila
Gender inequality is one of the biggest impediments to sustainable development. Without tackling its root causes, we cannot end global hunger and poverty.
Context
Rural women play a critical role in agriculture and rural economies across the world, making up 36 per cent of all agricultural workers.
Despite this, their roles and potential are all too often undermined by gender inequalities. Discriminatory social norms, legal frameworks and institutions restrict women’s rights, autonomy and opportunities. This not only affects their well-being and economic empowerment, but also the resilience of food systems.
While there has been considerable progress in the past decades, women have less access than men to resources, including land, finance, education and essential farming inputs.
On average, women spend twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic and care work. The burden for rural women is even higher, as they lack access to equipment and labour-saving technologies.
Women are also less represented in rural organizations and institutions at both local and national levels, and thus are left out of decision making. Even within their homes, women’s voices often go unheard when it comes to financial and business affairs, including how to spend what they earn.
Crises – from conflict to climate change – hit rural women and girls harder. Gender disparities make it more difficult for them to be resilient or to adapt. Moreover, the gap in food insecurity between men and women has widened in recent years, from 1.7 percentage points in 2019 to 4.3 percentage points in 2021.
Opportunities
Empowering rural women and girls and enabling them to make strategic life choices is the surest way towards gender equality – and towards sustainable, resilient and inclusive rural economies that can eradicate poverty and hunger.
Simply closing the gender gap in farm productivity and the wage gap in food system employment would increase global gross domestic product by nearly US$ 1 trillion.
It’s not only women who benefit. Our projects show that targeting women significantly improves incomes, diets, food security and resilience for their households and communities.
By incorporating gender throughout our work, we can create an equitable future, where rural women thrive, drive change and shape prosperous, resilient communities. Equality is not just a moral imperative. It is a strategic investment in global stability and prosperity.
What IFAD does
IFAD’s Strategic Framework, targeting policy, gender policy and Gender Action Plan are the main guiding frameworks for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment into our work.
Women make up more than half of IFAD project participants. We design our initiatives to address the specific needs and priorities of the different groups of people we serve.
Our initiatives provide rural women with training, financial and technical skills, access to markets, rural finance and decent employment opportunities.
Our projects increase women’s agricultural production and productivity. For example, an IFAD-supported project in Türkiye empowered 24,000 women to achieve economic independence while contributing to environmental sustainability.
We identify and tackle systems, practices and behaviours that are discriminatory and perpetuate gender inequality. Using household methodologies, our projects engage both women and men to bring about positive change in women’s livelihoods, independence and well-being.
IFAD projects are tailored to respond to the needs of specific groups of women who may be particularly vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, such as women living with disabilities and indigenous women.
We consistently track women’s participation, empowerment and outcomes using tools like the gender-transformative mechanism.
Experts
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