Increasing Women’s Profitable Participation in Market Systems Technical Note

The Increasing Women’s Profitable Participation in Market Systems Technical Note from the Feed the Future Enabling Environment for Food Security (EEFS) project examines policies and pathways for inclusive agricultural market systems.

As the technical note discusses, discriminatory laws, policies, and norms hinder women’s full participation, performance, and access to benefits from their work in agriculture. For example, in many countries, whether women can legally own property will determine their access to credit. Without the necessary collateral to secure loans, women agri-entrepreneurs’ ability to expand their businesses is stymied.

Building a supportive enabling environment for women agri-entrepreneurs and agricultural wage workers is thus key to supporting women’s profitable participation in market systems. To support this effort, EEFS identifies policies to strengthen women’s use, control, and ownership of assets; market access; workplace terms and conditions; access to financial services; and other priority areas.

For a full discussion of the role of the enabling environment in supporting women’s profitable participation in market systems, access the technical note below.

Additionally, see EEFS’ article examining gender-based violence in agribusiness and a discussion of steps to address it, including strengthening data collection, developing opportunities for women to access decision-making roles, and supporting safe reporting procedures.