Special Concern for Women's Role

52. Policies intended to facilitate access to modern technology and public services must pay special attention to the crucial position of women in farm production and the food economies of developing countries.

While there are considerable variations from place to place, women in these countries supply over half the labour used in agriculture. Moreover, full responsibility for producing the food needed to support the family usually falls on their shoulders.(⁵⁰)

Despite this, they are widely marginalised by severe forms of economic and social injustice. Even agrarian reform programmes consider women in terms of their domestic work and not as agents of productive action. Laws favour men in conferring the right to land ownership, and the educational system tends to emphasize boys' training rather than that of girls.

In view of this situation, if agrarian reform programmes are to be successful, it is vital to ensure women of an effective right to land, with concrete attention to their needs on the part of technical assistance services, fuller and better schooling and easier access to credit. This will improve the quality of their work, reduce their vulnerability to changes in technology, in the economy and in society, and increase alternative opportunities for employment.(⁵¹)