Discrimination against Women

Thirty-second session

* CEDAW/C/2005/I/1.

Item 5 of the provisional agenda*

10-28 January 2005

Implementation of article 21 of the Convention onthe Elimination of All Forms of Discriminationagainst Women

Report provided by specialized agencies of the United Nations on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in areas falling within the scope of their activities

Note by the Secretary-General

Addendum

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

1.On behalf of the Committee, the secretariat invited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), on 30 September 2004, to submit to the Committee a report on information provided by States to FAO on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in areas falling within the scope of its activities, which would supplement the information contained in the reports of the States parties to the Convention that will be considered at the thirty-second session.

2.Other information sought by the Committee refers to activities, programmes and policy decisions undertaken by FAO to promote the implementation of the Convention.

3.The report annexed hereto has been submitted in compliance with the request of the Committee.

Annex

Report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its thirty-second session

Algeria

1.The population of Algeria was estimated to be 30,245 million in 2000,1 of which 43 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 24 per cent of the population of Algeria depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 24 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

2.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 28 per cent and 48 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 51 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

3.The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has provided technical assistance in the design of a National Plan of Action to integrate the gender dimension in national policies, programmes and legislations and has supported two projects executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and another that targets the Education, Communication, Employment and Health system. The activities carried out under these two projects focus on assessing the gender dimension in agriculture and rural development; training national officers in participatory and gender analysis approaches and the preparation of plan of action for the integration of gender dimension in the national policies, programmes and legislation.

4.FAO provided technical assistance in incorporating a gender dimension in the National Agricultural General Census in order to ensure that the data collected and analysed give more visibility to women’s effective contribution in agriculture.

5.Through the Dimitra project, FAO collects detailed information on organizations and projects concerning rural women, food security and sustainable development in Africa and the Near East. By making this information available, the project aims at increasing the visibility of rural women’s contribution to development using traditional means of communication and new information technologies. The Dimitra project seeks to increase gender awareness among development actors and to promote information exchange and dissemination. There are 26 projects registered in the database for Algeria. The projects support rural women in their agricultural activities as well as in capacity-building for household food security.

Croatia

6.The population of Croatia was estimated to be 4,446 million in 2000,1 of which 42 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 8 per cent of the population of Croatia depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 8 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

7.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 44 per cent and 7 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 36 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

8.Within the framework of the FAO programme of assistance to Member States in support of national activities concerning the implementation of the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in September 1995 and the FAO Plan of Action on Gender and Development (2002-2007) a training workshop on socio-economic and gender analysis was organized in collaboration with the Croatian Agricultural Advisory Service. The scope of the workshop was to build the capacity of the pool of development specialists (23) to integrate socio-economic and gender issues in rural development strategies. This pool of specialists would subsequently go on to train other specialists.

Italy

9.The population of Italy was estimated to be 57,536 million in 2000,1 of which 33 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 5 per cent of the population of Italy depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 5 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

10.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 39 per cent and 5 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 41 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

11.Through the Socio-economic and Gender Analysis programme, FAO has carried out several awareness-raising sessions. For example, a presentation on the importance of socio-economic and gender issues in rural and agricultural development was given to members of the academic communities of Florence, Turin and Viterbo during the international “Women Feed the World”. In addition, a study was conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a rice-fish aquaculture project. The scope of the study was to analyse the gender roles and socio-economic issues — from preparation of fish ponds to harvesting; marketing; processing; access to credit and control over income and family health and nutrition.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic

12.The population of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic was estimated to be 5,279 million in 2000,1 of which 81 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 76 per cent of the population of the country depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 76 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

13.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 47 per cent and 79 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 49 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

14.Through the Socio-economic and Gender Analysis programme, FAO conducted an evaluation study, in collaboration with UNDP on a rice-fish aquaculture project. The scope of the study was to analyse the gender roles and socio-economic issues throughout the various stages of the project — from preparation of fish ponds to harvesting, marketing, processing, access to credit and control over income and family health and nutrition.

15.The FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, organized a regional consultation on “Advancement of Rural Women in Post Beijing Plus Era”. In addition, in collaboration with the FAO office in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, support was provided to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the areas of strengthening gender mainstreaming at the policy level, as well as in a field programme that focused on non-timber forest products for livelihood, and on the national programme for food security. At the field level, there are several projects that support rural women through the provision of inputs and training with the intent to improve household food security.

Paraguay

16.The population of Paraguay was estimated to be 5,470 million in 2000,1 of which 44 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 40 per cent of the population of Paraguay depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 34 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

17.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 30 per cent and 6 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 5 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

18.FAO has supported several institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Ministries in formulating gender-sensitive projects and programmes. In addition, FAO has conducted numerous awareness-raising sessions and capacity-building activities in order to increase awareness development and economic specialists with the scope of promoting gender equality in access to resources and services. For example, under the umbrella of the Socio-economic and Gender Analysis programme, a subregional training-of-trainers workshop was organized within the framework of FAO programmes of assistance to the Member States in support of national activities concerning the implementation of the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women. Twenty-three development specialists from various government institutions and NGOs from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay participated. The specialists formed a pool of trainers who would subsequently train other specialists. A training workshop on the importance and collection of gender-disaggregated data was held for staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, the institute of statistics and the Ministry of Women Affairs with the scope of sensitizing them.

19.FAO has also supported projects that have a direct impact on rural women in various areas, such as marketing, credit and access to other resources and services. For example, FAO provided assistance in the implementation of microcredit schemes for rural women.

20.At the field level, FAO has assisted in building rural women’s capacity in various agricultural sectors with the intent of ensuring household food security.

21.With the scope of promoting the awareness of rural women’s contribution to rural and agricultural development, an information sheet highlighting women’s situation was developed.

Samoa

22.The population of Samoa was estimated to be 173,000 in 2000,1 of which 78 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 35 per cent of the population of Samoa depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 34 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

23.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 33 per cent and 35 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 33 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

24.FAO has supported several projects in Samoa to empower rural women through the Telefood Campaign launched in 1997, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need and urgency to combat hunger. For example, a bee-keeping project trained 20 women in the village of Siumu to take up small-scale commercial beekeeping. The project paid for all material, from frames and foundations to hive tools, smokers and protective overalls, as well as 20 broods of bees. There are 24 Telefood projects in Samoa that either directly or indirectly empower rural women.

Turkey

25.The population of Turkey was estimated to be 68,281 million in 2000,1 of which 66 per cent lived in rural areas. Approximately 31 per cent of the population of Turkey depended directly or indirectly on agriculture, with 46 per cent of the total economically active population working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

26.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2000 was 38 per cent and 75 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 61 per cent were women.

Activities for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

27.FAO has supported several projects in Turkey through the Telefood Campaign launched in 1997 that seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need and urgency to combat hunger. For example, a project provided women with four sheep each to raise and breed. Another Telefood contribution provided some 160 families with seeds and scions to grow cherry, peach and apple trees, which they were trained to grow in a nursery and to sell. The farmers who buy them will replant them. FAO has currently 11 Telefood projects in Turkey that either directly or indirectly empower rural women.

28.Through the Dimitra project, FAO collects detailed information on organizations and projects concerning rural women, food security and sustainable development in Africa and the Near East. By making this information available, the project aims at increasing the visibility of rural women’s contribution to development using traditional means of communication and new information technologies. The Dimitra project seeks to increase gender awareness among development actors and to promote information exchange and dissemination. The database hosts five organizations that are carrying out projects that benefit rural women in Turkey.

Notes

1Data provided by FAO Statistical Databases (FAOSTAT).