FAO studies confirm that women constitute the backbone of the small farming sector, producing 60 to 80 percent of food for household consumption in developing countries and 50 percent worldwide. Despite the progress being made in some countries, the majority of these women remain highly disadvantaged and isolated. One crucial area of disadvantage regards land. Historically, women have been denied rights to control the land they farm. The Platform for Action underlined this, and FAO has been encouraging countries to include land issues in national plans of action to follow-up after Beijing.
Agrarian reform benefiting women is a growing trend.
In addition to Nicaragua, countries such as Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Malaysia, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda have all enacted laws recognizing women's right to own land. According to Ms Ekaas, one of the biggest achievements since Beijing has been the growing international response to gender issues in all sectors of the economy. This is largely due to the availability of more and better quality information disaggregated by sex. FAO is meeting this challenge by giving policy advice and technical assistance to member states and by disseminating information through its international network. At the same time, the way to full gender equality, development and peace will be further mapped out.