The global food economy has been both gender-blind and male-biased

Gendered threats to rural women’s RTFN are inextricably intertwined with the pervasive patriarchal norms and practices that discriminate against women and girls, as well as the current economic and development model, which is generally known to be rent-seeking, exploitative of people and natural resources, and highly growth-oriented.4 The current neoliberal trajectory of the global economy encourages an agribusiness-dominated food system, which views rural populations and their natural resources as production banks, results in rural-to-urban migration, and weakens the ability of States to hold third parties accountable for human rights violations within the economic sector.5 While women are involved in all aspects of production, processing and distribution of food, their voices have remained marginal in macroeconomic policy decisions in this area.6 Cuts in spending – particularly in the context of the global economic crisis – has further aggravated rural women’s access to food and increased gender inequalities as key services and social protections became and remain unavailable. While the formal adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development marks the beginning of a new phase of monitoring development as all countries work to translate the SDGs – including Goal 2 on Zero Hunger and Goal 5 on Gender Equality – into their respective national contexts, monitoring systems need to maintain human rights, the structural causes of hunger and malnutrition, and the effective participation of women directly affected at the center in order to overcome these threats to women’s RTFN. 

http://www.righttofoodandnutrition.org/reinforcing-rural-womens-rights-amid-2030-agenda-adoption
http://www.fian.org/fileadmin/media/publications_2017/Letters_and_statements/CSW_Written_Submission__20171020.pdf

 The present document is based, inter alia, on the joint FIAN International submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for its General Discussion on Rural Women during its 56th Session in October 2013 and highlights the structural causes for violations of rural women’s right to food and nutrition and related human rights.