CGIAR Initiative: Harnessing Gender and Social Equality for Resilience in Agrifood Systems <p class="ql-align-justify">Women taking up their rightful roles to co-develop and co-design solutions is essential to&nbsp;successfully transforming&nbsp;agrifood&nbsp;systems (AFS) in a world facing rapid climate change. However, gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched, limiting the potential of women—especially those from agriculture-dependent communities—to be empowered and&nbsp;to&nbsp;build social, economic and technological resilience to climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">The HER+ Initiative tackles the four main dimensions of gender inequality in&nbsp;agrifood&nbsp;systems identified in research for the UNFSS<span style="background-color: inherit;">i</span>&nbsp;(Figure 1):&nbsp;</p><ul><li class="ql-align-justify">women’s&nbsp;lack of&nbsp;agency or limited ability to define and act on goals, make decisions that matter to them, and participate in the economy and public life&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify">women’s lack of access to and control over resources&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify">social norms that discriminate based on gender&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-align-justify">policies and governance that fail to include and benefit women.&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p class="ql-align-justify">Structural gender inequalities such as harmful norms, unequal responsibilities and restrictive masculinities (rigid and inflexible notions and expectations) make women vulnerable to shocks and stressors such as climate change, conflict, state fragility and pandemics like COVID-19.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Despite significant research on gender&nbsp;in AFS, we have failed to make gender equality a reality. Therefore, HER+ will use impactful gender research to address the four dimensions of gender inequality (Figure 1)&nbsp;by applying gender-transformative approaches to address harmful norms,&nbsp;by bundling innovations for women’s empowerment,&nbsp;by leveraging social protection to increase women’s access to and control over resources, and by promoting inclusive governance and policies for increased resilience. In this way, HER+ will generate learning and evidence on how to manipulate levers and entry points to disrupt the foundations of inequality in AFSs.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">This research agenda builds on existing evidence on norms constraining climate resilience among women (e.g.,<a href="https://gennovate.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://gennovate.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);">GENNOVATE</a>,<a href="https://ccafs.cgiar.org/news/driving-social-change-sustainable-decisions-gender-inclusive-agricultural-transformation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://ccafs.cgiar.org/news/driving-social-change-sustainable-decisions-gender-inclusive-agricultural-transformation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);">CCAFS</a>,<a href="https://pim.cgiar.org/research/f6/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">&nbsp;</a><a href="https://pim.cgiar.org/research/f6/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);">PIM</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://gender.cgiar.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">the GENDER Platform</a>), and on how gender transformative approaches can boost climate resilience among women.<span style="background-color: inherit;">iii</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">iv</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">v</span>,<span style="background-color: inherit;">vi</span>&nbsp;Yet critical&nbsp;evidence&nbsp;gaps persist. For example, sociotechnical innovations targeting climate resilience are not adequately designed or bundled to encourage uptake by women. They are also not scaled at the pace or volume required for system transformation. Social protection systems often fail to&nbsp;address constraints faced by&nbsp;women&nbsp;that prevent&nbsp;resilience to climate change. And AFS governance structures—that is, the institutions and mechanisms by which decisions are made, implemented and decision-makers held accountable—often significantly disfavor women, perpetuating their lack of access to the resources and services that support resilience to climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">Investment in CGIAR research<a href="https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/cgiar-research-pays-off-new-report-finds-10-times-return-on-investment/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">&nbsp;generates a 10-fold&nbsp;return</a>, but only 10%&nbsp;of our innovations or technologies specifically target equality and social inclusion despite Gender&nbsp;Equality, Youth and&nbsp;Social&nbsp;Inclusion being one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cgiar.org/cgiar-portfolio/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: inherit;">CGIAR’s five dedicated&nbsp;Impact&nbsp;Areas</a>.<span style="background-color: inherit;">vii</span>,&nbsp;<span style="background-color: inherit;">viii</span>&nbsp;The HER+ Initiative strategically initiates an ambitious research agenda that is independent of CGIAR’s other gender efforts, including the GENDER Platform, to address this gap.&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">HER+ will drive the agenda of the&nbsp;agricultural research for development (AR4D)&nbsp;ecosystem through to 2030 by addressing the critical gender research question:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">What innovations can overcome restrictive social norms, promote women’s access to technologies and resources,&nbsp;and ensure policies and governance&nbsp;bolster gender and social equality in a climate-resilient&nbsp;agrifood&nbsp;system?&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-justify">This research will help us bring about, along with women in the countries in which we work, an equitable,&nbsp;climate-resilient&nbsp;AFS.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>