Joint FAO/IFAD/ILO Media Advisory

Rome, 19 January – Three United Nations agencies are to launch a ground-breaking study and a set of action-oriented policy briefs on gender and work in agricultural and rural areas here on 21 January.

The findings have important implications for how economic and food price crises affect millions of women who shoulder the bulk of farming and other agricultural work in the developing world.

The joint study "Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty – status, trends and gaps” was produced by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Labour Office (ILO) following two years of work begun in 2009, and is the first comprehensive look at gender and work in rural areas since the start of the global economic crisis.

The report examines important but rarely addressed questions such as: What do we know about the gender dimensions of rural employment, both on and off the farm? What are the gaps in data and research? Are there examples of good practice that could inform national policies?

The main topics of the report also include understanding the diverse responsibilities of women in rural agriculture, the challenges they face and the policies and supports needed to reinforce their role. The cornerstone of the report’s analysis is the United Nations Decent Work Agenda, which focuses on better jobs, social protection, universal application of labour standards and promotion of equitable rural institutions.

The agencies will also launch a set of seven new action-oriented policy briefs for practitioners and policy makers on key aspects of rural employment and decent work that identify specific challenges, and successful approaches to tackle them.

The briefs cover gender-equitable rural work to reduce poverty and economic growth; investing in skills for socio-economic empowerment of rural women; rural women’s entrepreneurship is “good business”; agricultural value chain development: threat or opportunity for women’s employment?; women in infrastructure works: boosting gender equality and rural development!; making migration work for women and men in rural labour markets; and breaking the rural poverty cycles: getting girls and boys out of work and into school.

The launch will take place at IFAD headquarters, Via Paolo di Dono, 44, at 10:00 on Friday, 21 January. Representatives of the three agencies will be at the launch event and available to answer questions.

Contact information

International Labour Organization (ILO)- Geneva
Martin Murphy
Phone: +41 22 799-7151 - Email: murphym@ilo.org
www.ilo.org

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) - Rome
Sarah Hessel
Phone: +39 06 54592622 - Email: s.hessel@ifad.org
www.ifad.org

Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) - Rome
Erwin Northoff
Phone: (+39) 06 570 53105 - Email: erwin.northoff@fao.org
www.fao.org

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the international organization responsible for drawing up and overseeing international labour standards. It is the only 'tripartite' United Nations agency that brings together representatives of governments, employers and workers to jointly shape policies and programmes promoting decent work for all.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. FAO helps developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and ensure good nutrition for all. Since its founding in 1945, FAO have focused special attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 360 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).