Thematic Session: Women in Food Systems

While addressing women’s roles in production, processing, trading, and households’ food consumption, we must also consider how the women are positioned in the agrifood systems, their accessibility to innovations, their vulnerability and resilience to climate change, their agency and participation in decision making and how the policy environment influences all these. This session will explore how we are meeting the equitable food systems challenge in Africa and how we can accelerate progress. The discussion will be guided by key themes including securing women’s rights to agricultural land, recognizing and integrating women’s agroecological knowledge, ensuring equitable access to inputs and resources, strengthening local governance and women’s leadership in policy processes, and enhancing rural women’s resilience to climate change. These focus areas will help frame practical pathways toward inclusive and gender-just food systems in Africa