Concertation Indépendante
Cible géographique:
Bangladesh
Major focus
Women play critical roles in ensuring food security and proper nutrition of families. According to the Labor Force Survey (2016-17), women account for nearly half of the work force in agriculture and nearly 3/4th of the rural female work force is engaged in agriculture in Bangladesh. Despite their crucial role in delivering food security, women are common victims to malnutrition, unhealthy food consumptions, lack of accessibility to necessary healthcare services among other crises. It is essential to recognize the position and challenges of women and formulate action plans accordingly to ensur
... Lire la suitee a sustainable and inclusive food system for the society. This dialogue focused on one of the levers of change of the Summit, which is gender (https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/levers-of-change ); that elevate gender equality, women’s empowerment and the engagement of women across all Action Tracks that includes; women’s rights to land; economic empowerment of women in food systems; unpaid care and agricultural labour burden; women’s leadership in food systems; access to technologies (including digital); changing norms and addressing institutional barriers; and gender-responsive agricultural and food systems policies. Women in rural areas of developing countries are at a disadvantage due to the fact that they do not have access to the same opportunities or resources as men owing to stereotype issues based on gender. There is a gender gap as regards access to certain resources such as: land, energy, technology, loans, and pesticides (file:///C:/Users/NAZNEE~1.RAH/AppData/Local/Temp/Dialnet-TheRoleOfWomenInFoodSecurity-4229912.pdf). Similarly in Bangladesh, there is however wage disparity between men and women and gender gap in the nature of employment. And even, in Bangladesh, women farmers face constraints in expanding their production, as they do not have equal rights over land. Property rights of women and girls fall mainly in the domain of family laws. Most of the family laws including Muslim and Hindu inheritance laws are discriminatory against women. Rules and procedures of khas (public) land distribution also often disempower women. As per Khas land management and distribution policy, single women and widows are not eligible to apply for khas land unless they have "an able-bodied son". Only 15.8% of rural land is owned by women; while one-fourth of that land is effectively controlled by them. The ownership ratio of water-bodies by women is also very insignificant (https://www.thedailystar.net/round-tables/news/womens-contribution-agriculture-and-access-land-covid-19-and-beyond-2040253). Women constitute almost half of the agricultural labor force of Bangladesh, but they still do not have official recognition as farmers. As a result, they also do not have access to the various resources and services that they are deserving of Official recognition of women as farmers, with proper means of identification such as agriculture card is required. For decades, there has been wage discrimination between male and female agriculture laborers. Setting minimum wage rates for agriculture labor (with proper grading for different works) should be in place to eliminate such discrimination. Government has introduced agriculture cards to give farmers better access to inputs and other facilities, but women's limited access to these not only denies them access to a wide range of agricultural services, but also depicts the policy level failure to give women farmers the due recognition they deserve. Restructuring of agricultural policies and management is required to bring all women farmers under the coverage of farmers' cards. Private sector partners (banks, mobile financial service providers) can help GoB to enhance such coverage and access. Experts shared these observations through the discussion during the dialogue and this event will support developing a national vision for the future of women in the food system. This dialogue focused on challenges to discuss and proposed the way forward to mitigate the prevailing gaps. Lire moins
Piste(s) d'Action: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Mots-clés : Data & Evidence, Environment and Climate, Finance, Governance, Human rights, Innovation, Policy, Trade-offs, Women & Youth Empowerment