A/HRC/22/72 51. An obstacle to the realization of the right to food of rural women is their poor access to justice. The main barriers faced by women concern the substance of law, institutional elements and cultural aspects.67 Discriminatory land, property or inheritance laws fall in the first category; lack of information on legislation intended to protect the rights of women, high costs of legal counsel and of transport from the rural to the urban areas belong to the second; stigma and stereotypes in the case of domestic violence or inheritance disputes, for example, belong to the third category of obstacles hampering the access to justice of rural women.68 D. The gendered role of women in society and the family 52. Rural women do not form a homogenous group. Their roles and needs vary culturally and geographically. The common thread is that most rural women are unpaid family workers or self-employed in the low-paid sale of products in local markets. They have limited opportunities and time to become involved in the remunerated labour market. 53. Due to the lack of remuneration or low pay, women’s work is perceived as being less valuable.69 A higher value is often attributed to the activities of men and boys. This construction results not least from the image of men as “protectors” in case of armed conflict. Such gendered roles relegate rural women to being “helpers” of the male head of household in Guatemala70 or “farmers’ wives” in Sri Lanka.71 A 2003 report provides an example of the dire consequence of the gendered roles for women’s right to food. In Bangladesh, custom required that women and girls ate last, which also meant that they ate less than men and boys.72 This situation was reflected in the higher rates of women and girls suffering of malnutrition and stunting. 73 54. Rural women carry a heavy triple burden.74 Globally, they produce about half of the world’s food.75 They cultivate food crops, manage livestock, grow vegetables in home gardens, fish and harvest from the forest and control small animals.76 Women and girls are responsible for the household, for gathering fuel and carrying water to prepare meals or for agricultural purposes. A study showed that in one year women in Africa carried over 80 tons of fuel, water and farm produce for a distance of one kilometre, while men carried only one eighth of that.77 The care of children, sick adults, orphans or the elderly is commonly the responsibility of women.78 55. Problems with rural women’s work arise from the fact that agricultural work is not placed in the framework of decent work as stated in the ICESCR and does not conform to the labour rights and standards promoted in the ILO conventions. The lack of access to decent work is a major cause of poverty, especially in the case of women in the rural areas. 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 14 V. Popescu, General Recommendation on Women’s Access to Justice, CEDAW at its 30th anniversary, 2012. Ibid. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (A/58/330), para 21. Labour Code of Guatemala, art. 139. FAO, Rural women and food security in Asia and Pacific: Prospects and paradoxes, 2005, p. 22. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food (A/58/330), 28 August 2003, para 20. Ibid. CSW Report, para 6. FAO, Climate Change, Biofuels and Land, ftp://ftp.fao.org/nr/HLCinfo/Land-Infosheet-En.pdf. WB, supra note 33, 2008, p. 137. FAO, Women, Agriculture and Food Security, www.fao.org/worldfoodsummit/english/fsheets/women.pdf CSW Report, para 8.