If the gender gap was closed in farming productivity and in the wage gap in agri-food systems, the GDP would increase by 1%, about $1 trillion, and food insecurity would decrease, Dr Erika Valério gender and agri-food expert, FAO, told Teagasc’s Women in Agriculture conference on Thursday.
“The productivity gap and wage gap are not facts of nature; they are the price we pay for inequality,” Valeris told the conference.
She was speaking about a 2023 FAO report, which found farms run by women were 24% less productive than those run by men, despite farms being the same size and the same conditions.
Access
She said that this gap reflects women’s less access to credit, information, training.
“When we give women the same seeds - the same fertiliser, the same access to finance, we know that this gap narrows.
“In terms of finances, women have 82c to every dollar that a man has,” she said.
