A/HRC/31/51
87.
The human rights perspective should accommodate a gender analysis for food
security, and allows focus on woman as an individual, rather than on the nation, the
community, or the household. At the same time, gender analysis should include other social
categories such as age, social status, race, ethnicity, and class. Adoption of the right to food
approach together with gender base analysis would reveal discrimination and inequality of
women in food production cycles and at household level in a more appropriate manner. A
person’s ability to acquire nutritious food is closely related to other aspects of the
capabilities and rights. For women and girls, discriminatory laws, social norms, values and
practices further affect access to food and food security. Moreover, unequal power relations
between genders, penetrate both the private and the public sphere, and constrain the
decision-making power of women and girls. The discrimination is reinforced when gender
inequality is compounded with other forms of exclusion related to income, ethnicity or race.
VII. Conclusions
88.
Over the last few decades, women have broadened and deepened their
involvement in agricultural production as they increasingly shoulder the
responsibility for household survival and respond to economic opportunities in
commercial agriculture. This phenomenon brought the argument about gender gap in
agriculture, where women’s productivity as farmers falls behind that of men, and
where women remains less food secure, despite their dominant role is food production.
This gender gap occurs because of cultural, legal, and economic barriers, so and
eliminating this discrepancy requires a holistic understanding that responds to
structural discrimination and failed implementation of attempted solutions. For
instance, while international development has focused on providing technical training
and access to new agricultural technologies for women, there has been a lack of focus
on providing women with land rights and sufficient financial resources. 86 Moreover,
women’s responsibility in relation to household food security, simply feeding family
and community is totally excluded from such technical and economistic solution.
89.
Closing the gender gap in agriculture requires development of gender sensitive
policies. Ensuring land rights and reinforcing the rights of girls and women to
education, social protection and increasing women’s participation in decision making
in a meaningful manner is critical for enhancing women's vital role in advancing
agricultural development and food security. Increasing women’s access to and control
over assets has been shown to have positive effects on important human development
outcomes including household food security, child nutrition, education, and women’s
own wellbeing and status within the home and community. Moreover, providing
women with essential tools and resources does not require a major investment of
resources but can have a huge impact on the formal economy. Respecting, protecting
and fulfilling women’s rights will inevitably fix broader problems in food systems in
general and can help communities achieve improved development outcomes.
90.
The Special Rapporteur provides the following recommendations:
In order for States to address discrimination against women in terms of equal labour
opportunities, States should:
(a)
Recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care and domestic
work, in order to create more opportunities for them to enter the labour market.
86
20
Anna Applefield and Jiwon Jun, Working with Women: An Essential Component of Global Food
Security and Agricultural Development, 38 A Letcher F. World AFF. 185, 186 (2014)
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