Invest in Women to Accelerate Progress

International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, is a day to reflect on the gender disparities that hinder women’s opportunities worldwide, while advocating for policies and strategies that pave the path to gender equality.

The theme for International Women’s Day 2024, as set by  UN Women, is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. With this campaign, UN Women shed light on an alarming reality: An additional $360 billion per year is needed to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment across key global goals, including to end poverty and hunger.

In the livestock context, where GALVmed operates, we must advocate for animal health and livestock strategies that are designed with attention to and addressing gender issues and inequities, to ensure women have equal access to resources and business opportunities as men. By investing in women, we not only advance global goals such as food security and poverty eradication, but also build a more inclusive and sustainable world.

How is GALVmed contributing to women’s empowerment?

Why is it important to invest in women in the livestock sector?

Women make up 43 percent of the global agricultural labour force, and therefore their work and contributions are of tremendous importance. Despite their potential to drive change within the agriculture and livestock sector towards more resilient, prosperous, and sustainable systems, rural women still face numerous challenges that leave them, and their communities, behind. We must allocate resources toward initiatives that amplify women’s contributions and opportunities, catalysing progress for women and men alike. This International Women’s Day, as well as every day of the year, let’s advocate for increased investment in women as a crucial step to help closing the gender gap and forging a future where everyone can thrive.

Banner Photo: Pascal Maitre & Chris de Bode/Panos Pictures

Written by Patricia Valdeón Noya as part of the International Women’s Day 2024 campaign on #InvestInWomen

The relation between gender inclusion and food security 

Gender blindness in agriculture and in the livestock sector in particular, continues to limit production in many rural areas, and evidence shows that the more gender inequality there is in a country, the hungrier and more malnourished people are. But what is the relation between gender inclusion and food security? 

Socially constructed roles and cultural practices, rules and beliefs, are some of the reasons for food insecurity and poverty in many developing countries. Although society or community defined roles for members are not in themselves a bad thing, the issue comes when it leads to skewed or unfair allocation of resources and unequal power relations. Women are involved in raising livestock, but they normally do not have equal access to land, labour, feed, credit and capital, and veterinary services among others.  

In any increasingly populated society, there is a growing demand for food security and livestock source foods such milk, eggs and meat. Although women make up two-thirds of rural livestock keepers, they continue to face various constrains that limit them from achieving optimal livestock production and agricultural development. Addressing these constraints and providing access to the same level of resources as men, would increase agricultural productivity by up to 30%.

The empowerment of women in the livestock sector is fundamental to achieve gender inclusion and equality. This can be accomplished by, among others, creating opportunities and improving women’s access to resources including land, technical skills and capital. Women’s ownership, whether of land or livestock, and decision making (e.g. income from livestock) are some of the issues that should also be addressed.  

However, any gender initiative, whether targeted or transformative, that does not simultaneously aim at addressing the gender cultural norms and rules, will result in limited advances. Initiatives aimed at increasing access and/or providing opportunities for women and girls should include educational programs to change society’s entrenched gender beliefs and attitude systems, to avoid backlashes and unintended consequences that would reverse the gains.  

Women’s empowerment is not only beneficial to them but to society, as it has a positive impact on agricultural development and contributes to food security. 

Written by Thembinkosi Ramuthivheli, GALVmed’s Senior Manager, Commercial Development & Impact, Africa 

Working towards achieving gender inclusion in the livestock sector 

Women around the world still face many challenges and disadvantages based on their sex/gender identity, and the agriculture and livestock sectors are no exception. 

Women continue to face challenges like unequal access to resources such as land, credit and capital, veterinary services, livestock ownership, or even knowledge and information. Although they are typically involved in caring and managing livestock, they tend to own fewer and smaller animals (small ruminants and poultry) and decision-making power and involvement normally decrease as the business grows. All these constraints continue to limit women’s access to opportunities.  

The International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8. This year, the focus is on gender equity. At GALVmed, we have adapted this topic to the animal health and livestock context. What do we mean by gender equity in the livestock sector? While equality states that all individuals are equal in status, rights and opportunities, equity recognizes that individuals have different needs and power based on their sex or gender identity and/or expression, and that these differences should be identified and addressed in a manner that rectifies inequities

We asked some of our GALVmed colleagues why they think it is important to have gender inclusion in the livestock sector and how to achieve that inclusion. Here are their reflections: 

The importance of gender inclusion in the livestock sector  

It is estimated that Africa’s population will be over 2 billion by 2050. Given demographic predictions, there is an increasingly growing demand for food security and livestock-source foods such as milk, eggs, and meat. Facilitating women’s access to resources, land, capital, and education and training, while promoting their empowerment would increase livestock production, contributing to food security.  Thembinkosi Ramuthivheli, Senior Manager of Commercial Development & Impact in Africa, reflects on the relation between gender inclusion and food security.

 Dr Steve Wilson, Director of R&D highlights how inequality within the management of livestock and associated systems has a resultant impact on sustainability, productivity and health of families and the wider community.  

According to Katharine Tjasink, Senior Manager of Impact, Evaluation & Learning, evidence shows that women tend to reinvest most of their earnings from livestock back into nutrition, healthcare, school, and other household-benefitting activities, which contribute to improving livelihoods and breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty. 

It is evident that women play a decisive role in the overall health and well-being of their families. To Gwynneth Clay, Project Leader of the Brucellosis Vaccine Initiative, this essentially mean they can play a vital role in the successful implementation of One Health strategies. 

Achieving gender inclusion in the livestock sector 

Acknowledging gender inequity and understanding its consequences is the first step, but addressing the constraints and designing effective solutions is not that simple. There are many structural and cultural factors that need to be taken into consideration. “There is clearly a need to find solutions that fit within a cultural context which ensure that woman and men have a more equal contribution to how their livestock and associated household decisions are made,” says Dr Steve Wilson. 

As stated by Katharine Tjasink, achieving gender equity at scale would require serious policy commitment backed by an implementable plan for shifting perceptions, changing behaviour, and addressing structural and other barriers. And Thembinkosi Ramuthivheli also weighs in that any gender initiative, whether targeted or transformative, not simultaneously aiming at cultural norms and rules, will result in limited advances. Initiatives aimed at increasing access and/or providing opportunities for women and girls, should include educational programs to change society’s entrenched gender beliefs and attitude systems. 

Patricia Valdeón Noya, Senior Communications Assistant, highlights the importance of facilitating education and training. “Education and training in animal health and husbandry practices is key for women small-scale producers’ success and empowerment, as it reinforces knowledge, builds confidence, and provides opportunities.” 

Overall, and according to Dr Lamyaa Al-Riyami, Senior Manager of Evaluation, Programme Planning, we must ensure that “support is tailored and appropriate to the needs of small-scale producers, leading to equal economic development and empowerment opportunities.” 

With all this in mind, what is GALVmed’s approach? Neil Gammon, Senior Director of Funder Relations & Development, shed some light on how GALVmed is addressing this matter. “We look at where women tend to be abundantly focused in small-scale livestock production and we make sure that we have very good and effective interventions that generate significant impact in those areas. Specifically, this would mean us implementing, at scale, vaccination programmes in small-scale poultry and small ruminant production. Vaccination rates in both these areas are currently very low and effecting a transformational change here would bring tangible benefits to millions of women small-scale producers.”  

There is a long way to achieving gender equity in the livestock sector. Animal Health and livestock strategies need to be designed minding and addressing gender issues and inequities. By encouraging women’s empowerment, they can fully achieve their potential and value as key players in One Health, livestock productivity and sustainability, and livelihoods. 

This blog has been written by Patricia Valdeón Noya as part of the International Women’s Day 2023 campaign on #EmbraceEquity