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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026, a global campaign to recognize women’s vital contributions to agrifood systems worldwide and accelerate efforts to close persistent gender gaps in agriculture.
Image Source: FAO
The United Nations declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF 2026). The Year spotlights the essential yet frequently overlooked roles women play across agrifood systems, from production, processing, and trade. IYWF 2026 raises awareness and promotes actions to close the gender gaps and improve women’s livelihoods worldwide. FAO, together with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), will coordinate activities throughout 2026.
Women farmers work in diverse roles across agrifood systems, representing a range of backgrounds, including young and older women, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, and refugee and displaced women. They engage as smallholder producers, agricultural laborers, fishers and fish workers, beekeepers, pastoralists, processors, traders, women in agricultural sciences, rural entrepreneurs, among others, and participate in both formal and informal work, regardless of land ownership.
In 2021, agrifood systems employed 40% of working women globally, nearly equal to the share employed by men. However, women’s contributions remain undervalued with risky working conditions characterized by irregular, informal, part-time, low-paid, and labor-intensive roles. They face systemic barriers, including restricted access to land, finance, technology, education, extension services, and participation in decision-making.
These challenges were underscored during the launch of the IYWF 2026 at the 179th Session of the FAO Council, where FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torero delivered a strong call to action to advance gender equality in agrifood systems. He stressed that the observance goes far beyond celebration, urging greater policy focus on the multidimensional challenges women farmers face, and promoting legal reforms and policy and programmatic actions that allow women to have equal land rights, equal access to finance, technology, extension services, markets, and decision-making.
Reference: FAO. 2025. FAO launches International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 to accelerate gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems. Retrieved April 20, 2026 from https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-launches-international-year-of-the-woman-farmer-2026-to-accelerate-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment-/en
