Climate change is increasingly being recognised as a global crisis, but responses to it have so far been overly focused on scientific and economic solutions. How then do we move towards morepeople-centred, gender-aware climate change policies and processes? How do we respond to the different needs and concerns of women and men, and also challenge the gender inequalities that mean women are more likely to lose out than men in the face of climate change? This In Brief sets out why it is vital to address the gender dimensions of climate change.

En el presente documento se analiza el carácter estratégico que tiene la mujer rural en relación a la agricultura y la seguridad alimentaria y la forma cómo han ido respondiendo las políticas públicas a este respecto. Esta vinculación se procesa desde varios ámbitos: como procesadora y conservadora de alimentos y, por tanto, como responsables de la alimentación de su familia. No obstante esto, su trabajo es “invisibilizado”.

Ethiopia has combined its fourth and fifth reports to the United Nations Committee that monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This report outlines the status of women in Ethiopia and initiatives on the part of all government and non-governmental actors to address the goals set out by CEDAW. Institutional commitments to address gender issues are in place. However, the socioeconomic status of women, particularly in rural areas, remains lower in Ethiopia's male-biased social structures.

The biofuel boom has become a core issue in Zimbabwean land and development debates. Biofuels require large tracts of land for production; and the land acquisition programmes by the various state, non-state actors and individuals have been termed ‘land grabbing’. The increasing global demand for biofuels has different gender specific socio-economic and environmental effects in Zimbabwe. Males and females in the biofuel producing zone may face a differential risk matrix, comprising different issues.

The new India’s Right to Food Campaign website was launched in March 2014 at the campaign’s fifth convention. It is an action-oriented website, with lots of action-oriented material on the right to food in India including primers, articles, survey reports, court orders, campaign tools and much more As explained in its foundation statement, the right to food campaign is an informal network of individuals and organisations committed to the realisation of the right to food in India.

As governments, the private sector, multilateral institutions, and international development organisations weigh the options for improving food security around the world, they must consider one of the most promising elements for addressing the needs of the world’s hungry and malnourished: secure land rights. Addressing land rights issues—in particular, women’s land rights—in programmes and policies designed to address food security and nutrition through agriculture can deepen the impact of those interventions and lead to improved development outcomes.

The IGTN Advocacy Document for the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting that was held in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003 focuses on these four issues and identifies critical advocacy positions for each of them. With regard to agriculture, the IGTN asserts that control over agriculture by states rather than the WTO would ensure that small-scale and subsistence farmers have control over farming and food supply; a particularly important concern for women around the world who are those responsible for ensuring household food security and managing family farms.

Because of their lower social and economic status, as well as physiological needs, women are often more vulnerable to nutritional problems. When it comes to sharing food resources in the home, women and girls can lose out. Indeed, the full realisation of the right to food for women depends on parallel achievements in the right to health, education, access to information and access to resources such as land.

There are multiple obstacles to the economic empowerment of women in Africa. For example, limited access to productive resources such as land, seed and fertiliser means that women may be unable to benefit from the expansion of trade in agricultural products. In fact, it has been calculated that agricultural productivity could increase by up to 20 percent if women's access to these resources were equal to men's.

This shadow report, produced by NEWA and EWLA, offers a critique of the Ethiopian government's CEDAW report by looking at three broad areas: economic and socio-cultural status of women, equality in marriage and family relations and violence against women. The report acknowledges the considerable efforts made by the Ethiopian government to address its CEDAW obligations, but cites weak enforcement, poor policy guidelines and a lack of institutional commitment as ongoing problems.

How does the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) affect the livelihoods of rural women in Asia? This paper, prepared on the occasion of the WTO-AOA review in 2003, analyzes the impact of the new trading rules imposed by the WTO on Asian peasants. It illustrates the inherent imbalances in the WTO-AOA's trade liberalisation policies which, among other things, flood local markets with highly subsidized agricultural imports from developed countries to the detriment of domestic agriculture.

Women's employment in transition countries, notably Central and Eastern Europe has become increasingly informal and flexible. The first growing trend is that women are more involved in cross-border trade, known as 'suitcase' trade, often keeping women away from home for days or months. They buy mainly consumer and household goods usually unavailable in their home countries, to sell to street vendors on their return home. The second growing trend is women's involvement in sub-contracting, particularly work such as hand sewing for the textile and shoe industries.