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October 15, 2020

A climate emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic and a global recession are among the crises that have upended the lives of millions of people this year. Rural women are particularly vulnerable to these upheavals, but are at the same time emerging as front-runners and leaders when it comes to building back better.

On the occasion of International Day of Rural Women, CGIAR centers and programs are providing insights on how One CGIAR gender research is supporting rural women during this time of unprecedented crises.

How is One CGIAR supporting rural women during times of crises?

By distributing high-iron and zinc bean varieties to women farmers during COVID-19

Achieving food and nutritional security as well as economic prosperity is possible within an equitable system where structural barriers are removed and traditional gender norms and stereotypes are broken. From the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT—read more.

By building just societies and resilient landscapes alongside rural women

Rural women play an essential role in using and managing natural resources in forest and tree-based landscapes across the world—or at least they should. From the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)—read more.

By gendering agriculture so women take the lead in feeding Africa

Africa’s hopes of feeding a population projected to double by 2050 rest on huge investments in agriculture, including creating the conditions so that women can empower themselves and lead efforts to transform agricultural landscapes. From the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)—read more.

Photo: B. Vinceti/Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

By getting rural women’s perspectives on COVID-19

Much of the coverage and analysis on COVID-19 has focused on urban areas, and there have been surprisingly few accounts of the gender dynamics of the pandemic in rural areas. From the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT —read more.

By overturning cultural beliefs hampering women from providing animal health services

Supporting rural women to become animal health service providers is helping overturn ingrained cultural beliefs that have hampered women from owning animals and making decisions about their health. From the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)—read more.

By understanding gender relations for landscape restoration and rural women’s empowerment

Restoring agricultural land at the farm scale requires a context-specific understanding of intra-household decision dynamics and gender relations. From World Agroforestry —read more.

By supporting empowered rural women to take on entrepreneurship

Women farmers in Odisha, India, successfully shoulder responsibility in leading their families through the COVID-19 crisis. From the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)—read more.

By ensuring rural women have equal opportunity to prevent pests and diseases

Pests and diseases impede higher yields in many parts of Africa, and it is imperative that men and women have equal opportunity to use the technologies needed to prevent further spread. From the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB)—read more.

By equipping women to steer toward resilient agricultural systems and livelihoods

To help Bangladesh through current crises, women need access to new knowledge and improved technologies, alternative economic opportunities, and a better enabling environment. From the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)—read more.

By ensuring that women can benefit, alongside men, in the process of rural transformation

Rural transformation has the potential to empower women, expand their livelihood opportunities, and erode harmful gender norms. From the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM)—read more.

By building resilience and gender equity in the face of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested virtually everyone in some way—but especially the strength and resilience of women in the world’s rural areas. From the I nternational Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)—read more.

By reshaping gender norms in northern Ghana

Women are adapting by forming farm cooperatives, making, selling and trading goods and taking on additional farming responsibilities traditionally performed by men. From the International Water Management Institute (IWMI)—read more.

By developing resources for R4D that keep rural women’s needs at the core of COVID-19 responses

Research during COVID-19 and other shocks must not overlook the perspectives of rural women, despite social and technological access barriers that pose challenges to women’s engagement. From WorldFish —read more.

By understanding the roles of rural women in the Latin American agri-food system

Women face both opportunities and obstacles in their positions in the food system, as producers and consumers. From the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH)—read more.

By enabling Malagasy women to champion good agricultural practices

Three women leaders have received training and are sharing knowledge on good agricultural practices. From AfricaRice—read more.

By investigating the paradox of transitions in rural women’s lives

Learning lessons that have implications for the way youth–especially young girls and women–are targeted as beneficiaries of agricultural interventions. From the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)—read more.

By building a better future

Gender research supports more equitable outcomes during and post-crisis, while helping to build more resilient systems. From the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)—read more.

By supporting resource-poor women farmers to form collectives

Poor and landless farmers can sustainably improve their livelihoods by pooling their land, labor, capital and skills in self-organized collectives. From the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE)—read more.

More news

Follow the conversation on @CGIARgender and #GenderInAg.
Sign up for our online discussion group to participate in exchanges about GENDER and related resources and opportunities.

Thank you

Thank you to CGIAR research centers, programs and platforms that contributed to this newsletter: AfricaRice, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), World Agroforestry (ICRAF), WorldFish. Also to the CGIAR Research Programs on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM); Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB); and Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

Photo credits from the top: C. de Bode/CGIAR; Stephanie Malyon/CIAT; Aulia Erlangga/CIFOR; Olaoluwa/IITA; B. Vinceti/Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT; Georgina Smith/ILRI; World Agroforestry; Wasim Iftikar/CIMMYT; Sarah Mayanja/CIP; IRRI; Bjorn Van Campenhout/IFPRI; AWM Anisuzzaman/WorldFish; Axel Fassio/CIFOR; Piemsuk Wanichupatumkul/ILO; Neil Palmer/CIAT; AfricaRice; Apollo Habtamu/ILRI; F. Fiondella/IRI/CCAFS; Hamish John Appleby/IWMI.

The CGIAR GENDER Platform is hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and is grateful for the support of CGIAR Trust Fund Contributors.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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