Gender and Agricultural Livelihoods: Strengthening Governance

Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development. Key elements of good governance in agriculture include quality of agricultural policies and regulations; efficiency and equity in the provision of agricultural services and infrastructure; reduction of corruption; and access to justice and enforcement of rights.

Despite recent reforms in the public sector and in many agricultural institutions, increasing voice and accountability in rural areas remains a challenge even in democratic systems, and rural women face particular obstacles in making their voices heard. Thus, reforms must explicitly pay attention to gender issues and be implemented in a gender-sensitive manner. Governance reforms are “gender-sensitive” if they are: sensitive to gender differential; gender specific; empowering to women; and transformative.