A/HRC/22/50 37. The recognition that women may have different priorities to those of men leads to fundamental questions about the type of support they should be provided. For instance, titling schemes as a means to increase security of tenure may be considered with scepticism if the schemes are captured by men or elites or if it implies encouraging the development of a market for land rights, when land is more than an economic asset for many rural households, particularly women who depend on land for a non-cash type of production to feed their families. Similarly, if microcredit schemes crowd out other forms of support provided to small-scale food producers, it may result in forcing beneficiaries, women in particular, to move towards production for the market, rather than for self-consumption, something which may not correspond to the priorities of women in specific contexts. Developing agricultural research in ways that are more responsive to women's needs may result in greater attention being paid to the preservation of the resource base on which they rely, not only for agricultural production but also for domestic needs (medicinal plants, fuelwood, wild fruit). It may also result in more attention being paid to the more nutritious food crops, rather than to only staple crops, particularly cereals; and in choices in agricultural research that focus more on the post-harvesting phase – not simply on the prospects of selling the produce in high-value markets, but also on the possibility of preserving food from losses, the nutritional value of the food that is produced for consumption within the household, or the impact a particular variety may have on the time constraints of women. 38. Involving women in the design, implementation and assessment of all these policies, could therefore have deeply transformative effects on how we conceive of the role of smallscale farming itself. This is why participation matters: it is to ensure that women have real choices. The strengthening of women's cooperatives or encouraging group farming by women's collectives are also important for that reason. Not only should women be able to overcome the obstacles that obstruct their ability to be as productive as men, they should also be able to redefine the priorities of the small-scale farming system, of which they are becoming the main actors. V. A human rights response 39. A human rights-based strategy to address gender discrimination against women includes four complementary requirements. It must relieve women of the burdens of household chores; it must be empowering and challenge the existing division of roles; it must systematically aim at taking into account gender in existing food security strategies; and, as regards governance, it must be part of a multisectoral and multi-year effort, including independent monitoring of progress towards certain targets. Relieving women of the burdens of the "care" economy 40. A first requirement is breaking the cycle of discrimination against women. This does not mean simply removing discriminatory provisions in the law, particularly as regards access to land or other productive resources, but it also requires that the structural causes of de facto discrimination be addressed. In particular, measures should be taken to relieve women of the burden imposed on them by the duties they assume in the "care" economy, and to improve their economic opportunities by better access to education and employment. Older women are particularly at risk of food insecurity as the cumulative effect of discrimination in accessing employment tends to leave older women with 17