Agroecology: A viable path for rural women’s empowerment

October 11, 2019

Gender equality for women farmers starts with recognizing their contribution to sustainable food production and supporting their priorities.

As a model, agroecology is uniquely well suited to do this. It prioritizes local food security, ecosystem integrity, biodiversity, climate resilience, and social justice – reflecting women’s needs and aspirations as farmers. It’s a feminist and rights-based approach that is shaped by women and strongly connected to their knowledge and expertise.

Women’s knowledge of agricultural biodiversity holds a central place in agroecology. The participatory, farmer-to-farmer knowledge-sharing methodologies embedded in agroecology also help to value women’s contributions to farming and biodiversity and make them visible. Together with gender equality strategies and training, women’s economic initiatives based in agroecology show impressive results in strengthening women’s leadership and empowerment.

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