Gender Dynamics in Sustainable Agriculture

The interplay between gender and sustainable agriculture is increasingly recognised as central to food security, ecosystem restoration and rural livelihoods. Women and men often occupy distinct roles in crop selection, livestock management and the stewardship of natural resources, shaped by social norms, land tenure systems and access to training and finance. Persistent gender gaps in decision-making authority, extension services and market participation can constrain innovation and undermine the resilience of farming systems. Conversely, greater gender equity has been linked to higher resource-use efficiency, diversification of farming practices and improvements in household nutrition. At a global scale, understanding how gender relations influence farm-level choices, value-chain participation and policy outcomes is vital for designing interventions that foster inclusive, low-carbon and biodiverse food systems. Recent work highlights the need to integrate gender-sensitive indicators into sustainability assessments, to recognise women’s knowledge in agroecology and to dismantle institutional barriers that limit women’s land rights, credit access and leadership opportunities.

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Gender Dynamics in Sustainable Agriculture publication trend

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Technical terms

Gender empowerment: the extent to which individuals, irrespective of sex, have equitable access to resources, voices in decision-making and control over agricultural inputs and outputs.

Eco-efficiency: a metric comparing agricultural productivity or desirable outputs against environmental pressures such as biodiversity loss, resource depletion and pollutant emissions.

Agroecological transition: the process of transforming conventional farming systems into ones that integrate ecological principles, social equity and cultural values to achieve sustainable food production.

References

1. Importance of women empowerment for eco‐efficiency of small farms in the context of other social factors: Building sustainable agriculture in Central and Eastern European countries. Sustainable Development (2024).
2. Influence of gender on the development of sustainable agriculture in France. Journal of Rural Studies (2023).
3. Gender equity as a key element for agroecological transitions: Neo‐rural women as managers of agroecological initiatives. People and Nature (2024).