In this dialogue, we seek to explore the ways in which the concept of women’s agency (including empowerment) can be operationalised in food systems, in both policy and practice. Investing in women’s agency is now urgent, as despite considerable global awareness and progress on gender equality over the past four decades, several challenges remain to the exercise of women’s agency in food systems. These include: a) the invisibility and devaluation of women’s work, both productive and unpaid care; b) lack of entitlements and unequal access to assets, especially land, water, and credit; c) lack of recognition of women’s knowledges, with effects on peer learning and dialogues with modern science; d) low levels of leadership and representation in decision-making bodies; e) Structural inequities, resulting in violence against women related to food insecurities, with adverse consequences for health and nutrition; and f) lack of investment in building women’s collective agency for inclusion and equity. 

Discussion on entry-points and strategies for strengthening women’s agency will be framed around sub-themes such as: a) Strengthening the interface between women’s knowledges and science; b) Building and investing in women’s individual and collective agency; c) Alternate pathways to improving nutritional outcomes; and d) Securing rights, entitlements and representation.