Women are essential to transforming Africa’s agrifood systems and attaining the continent’s job creation, growth and health agendas. Close to two-thirds of African women are employed in agrifood systems in roles ranging from farmers to agrodealers to educators to traders. Women also play a lead role in supporting the nutritional health and well-being of their families. Yet, women’s agency and capacity to participate in food systems transformation is hindered by a combination of socioeconomic, institutional and cultural barriers that entrench gender inequality.

A recent report by the Malabo Montpellier Panel launched in June, Bridging the Gap: Policy Innovations to Put Women at the Center of Food Systems Transformation in Africa, details the status of women in Africa’s food systems, including the key challenges that must be dismantled for true empowerment and gender equality. It then identifies policy recommendations to strengthen women’s participation in agrifood systems, drawing on the experiences of four countries — Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Togo — systematically selected for their success in driving systems-level change and transformation through targeted government action. READ further from the source