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Supporting Women's Economic Participation


(FILE) A women farmer prunes moringa trees, which are sought after for their nutritional and medicinal properties.
(FILE) A women farmer prunes moringa trees, which are sought after for their nutritional and medicinal properties.

"If women have equal access to resources to make their farms as productive as the farms of men ... that there would be 45 million fewer food insecure people in the world," said USAID Coordinator Bigio.

Supporting Women's Economic Participation
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USAID is particularly invested in helping women in agriculture. Among the priorities are ensuring that women farmers have access to new technologies, finance, tools, and training in improved production practices, so that the farms that they manage are more successful, said Jamille Bigio, USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment.

“Right now, we see an over 20 percent gap between productivity in the farms that women manage versus the farms that men manage. So, we're working to help close that gap.”

That data comes from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, said Coordinator Bigio, which found that women produce up to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries and are essential to small-scale agriculture, farm labor and day-to-day family subsistence, but face greater barriers than men in accessing land, credit, and other services. USAID’s agricultural sector programs include a strong focus on gender equality with the goal of helping women catch up. In fact, through Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger initiative, USAID increased its support for women and girls by more than 160 percent.

“To help them continue to be more productive, USAID is providing them [with] improved tools like fertilizer and seeds. We are providing them with training … to use new practices to make their farms more productive. We're also helping women who are working in off farm jobs across the agrifood businesses.”

The fact is that women farmers are key to food and nutrition security around the globe, as well as to strong economies everywhere.

“The Food and Agriculture Organization has found that around the world, if women have equal access to resources to make their farms as productive as the farms of men, and if they have equal wages to that of men working in off farm jobs, that there would be 45 million fewer food insecure people in the world and it would add $1 trillion to global GDP. … We see that as a priority, especially in Africa and in Asia.”

“Women farmers are a backbone of their societies,” said Coordinator Bigio.

USAID is prioritizing gender equality and women’s empowerment in the agricultural sector because it lifts whole economies, and because it is the right thing to do.

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