Toolkit to Address Gender-Based Violence in Agriculture and Market Systems Development

The Toolkit to Address Gender-Based Violence in Agriculture and Market Systems Development seeks to prepare agriculture and MSD project staff to better identify and implement actions to address GBV where it arises in their projects.

GBV affects the physical, emotional, social, and economic well-being of women, their families, the community, and other individuals at risk of GBV. Not only does GBV negatively affect the health and wellbeing of those who experience it, it also negatively affects the function of agriculture and market systems by reducing agricultural productivity, workplace and worker productivity, workforce readiness, and market competitiveness, stability, and resilience. At the national level, estimates suggest that GBV in agriculture could cost some countries up to 2 percent of their gross domestic product (Chmielewski and Alnouri 2018). According to recent studies from the International Finance Corporation, company “staff may lose around 10 work days per year due to domestic and sexual violence, including four days to presentism, two to absenteeism, and four to assisting others experiencing domestic and sexual violence” (IFC 2020).

While on the surface it may appear that addressing GBV is outside the purview of an agriculture or MSD project, in fact, GBV can manifest within the day-to-day activities of many actors across all levels of the agricultural market system. Depending on the country, women supply 30–80 percent of agricultural labor, and the United Nations estimates that 1 in 3 women experiences GBV (Chmielewski and Alnouri 2018). Although agriculture and MSD projects have great potential to strengthen and be strengthened by women’s empowerment, projects may also introduce women to new roles, challenge social and gender norms, and shift power relations that can increase women’s risk of GBV in the household, community, and workplace. The workplaces, workspaces, and supporting institutions that make up agricultural market systems can also expose women and other at-risk workers to sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment. In this way, agriculture and MSD activities may unintentionally increase the risk of GBV unless projects are aware of how to identify and mitigate GBV risks. Agriculture and MSD projects, when equipped with the tools to do so, can enhance both productivity goals and women’s empowerment in ways that improve productivity, safety, and resilience.

Source: USAID
Year: 2022