Closing gender gaps in agricultural productivity would improve food security for 45 million people

Rising conflicts and overlapping humanitarian crises, alongside a retreat in humanitarian and development financing, have deepened food insecurity in fragile or conflict-affected settings. Globally, women’s moderate or severe food insecurity rate stood at 23.6 per cent in 2025, compared to 22.7 per cent for men. If current trends continue, more than a quarter of women (25.8 per cent), approximately 1.1 billion in total, are expected to remain food insecure by 2030[1]. Rising food prices and the expected El Niño phenomenon are anticipated to intensify pressures and are expected to affect women disproportionately[2]. A 10 per cent spike in food prices is associated with a higher jump in moderate or severe food insecurity among women compared to men.

Gender gaps in productive resources constrain food security and farm productivity. Data from 2020-2024 show that male small-scale food producers had higher labour productivity than their female counterparts in 31 of 39 countries, and in 34 of 38 countries among large-scale producers. Closing gender gaps in farm productivity and agricultural wages could reduce global food insecurity by 2 percentage points, leading to approximately 45 million fewer food-insecure people. Beyond access to resources, in households, women’s agency and decision-making power are associated with improved household nutrition. In Bangladesh, a 10 per cent increase in women’s empowerment score is associated with a 24 per cent higher household calorie availability and a 13.6 per cent improvement in dietary diversity, with benefits extending well beyond women to households and communities. Policy action should strengthen women’s land rights and tenure security through legal and land registration reforms, design extension services and financial products responsive to women farmers' needs, and advance women's roles as decision makers in agrifood systems and governance.