This paper is one of several the Ceres2030 project team are writing on issues that are critical to the realization of SDG 2 but for which there is not enough data to do the issue justice. The Ceres2030 team are not generating new data so much as analyzing and synthesizing existing data. As such, both the cost model and the evidence synthesis are dependent on what is already published. A cost model depends on quantitative data. If that data is not disaggregated by gender, the model cannot build gender-disaggregated conclusions. Gender-disaggregated databases are slowly being built. The research and policy worlds know more now than they did 10 years ago, and they are learning more all the time. However, although they are becoming more available for health and nutritional outcomes, gender-disaggregated statistics for agriculture and rural development remain scarce.

The case for including a gendered analysis has been made before, and eloquently. Some of that literature in relation to agriculture and food security is cited below. The project team hope that in the future, a project looking at existing evidence as Ceres2030 is will have the quantitative data they need to address women’s role in agriculture. Similarly, the syntheses of available evidence are likely with time to find more discussion of gender in the published research. For now, unfortunately, the published research contains as many or more gaps than answers. This briefing note points to the challenges, highlights some interventions that have proven to be effective, and hopes it can contribute to making the case that gender must be counted and consciously included if women’s empowerment is to get the place it deserves in realizing the 2030 Agenda.

Ceres 2030 is a partnership between Cornell IP-CALS, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD)