Why Gender Equality Is Essential for Achieving Living Incomes in Smallholder Farming Communities
by Sally Smith
The Missing Link in Living Income Strategies
Across global agricultural supply chains, companies are investing heavily to close the living income gap for smallholder farmers. Yet despite this momentum, one critical factor is too often overlooked – gender equality.
The Anker Research Institute (ARI) partnered with the Living Income Community of Practice (LICoP) to produce a Briefing Paper to draw attention to this issue. The paper draws on decades of research on gender and agriculture as well as insights from practitioners and companies in the living income community. It argues that while gender equality and living income are both recognised as human rights, the links between them are not well understood and as a result, many company living income programmes lack a gender perspective – limiting their effectiveness and, in some cases, unintentionally doing harm. Conversely, addressing gender inequality can boost productivity and supply chain resilience and reduce the risk of serious human rights violations.
How Gender Inequality Affects Household Incomes and Wellbeing
Women make up nearly 40 percent of the global agricultural workforce, yet their productivity and earnings are consistently lower than men’s. They often have less access to land, finance, inputs, technology and training, and lack decision-making power in households and communities. Because of these disparities, women farmers frequently earn less than men. The FAO has estimated that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent. This could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100 to 150 million.[i]
“Gender inequality is part of the living income problem. And gender equality is part of the solution.”
- Anna Laven
Moreover, while farms are typically owned by older men, women and younger men contribute significant unpaid and waged labour. Yet these workers are frequently overlooked by projects and training programmes, despite performing critical tasks that affect productivity and quality. When living income initiatives ignore such realities – for instance, by targeting only “registered farmers” who are mostly men – they risk reinforcing inequality and creating heavier workloads for women without ensuring women benefit. Women may also experience violence if they resist dedicating more time to their spouses’ farms.
Focusing on farm productivity can also obscure other opportunities for boosting household incomes by addressing gender issues. Supporting women’s small businesses to thrive, ensuring living wages and pay equity for waged workers, or providing labour-saving technologies and childcare services could be equally effective measures. More broadly, research consistently shows that promoting gender equality drives better household outcomes. For example, a global meta-analysis of IFAD-funded projects found that when women gained decision-making power, projects achieved higher household incomes, better nutrition and greater resilience.[ii]
Where Companies Stand Today
While many companies recognise gender inequality as an important issue in smallholder communities, our research indicates that few have fully linked it to their living income work. An ARI-LICoP survey of 30 companies and producer organizations found that:
Fewer than half analyse gender issues in sourcing communities.
Only a third have a gender strategy guiding their work.
Few disaggregate living income data by gender.
Although companies often have projects supporting women in farming communities, these tend to be small in scale and sit outside living income programmes. This means many living income interventions remain “gender-blind” – designed without understanding the different roles, constraints and aspirations of women and men in farming households. Without this lens, companies risk misidentifying target beneficiaries, overlooking unpaid family labour and waged workers, exacerbating gender inequality, and missing opportunities to enhance impact through gender-responsive design.
A Practical Framework for Action
To bridge this gap, ARI and LICoP have developed a Gender Action Framework to help companies move from gender-blind to gender-transformative practice in their living income programmes. The framework outlines concrete actions across four key areas:
Strategy & Resourcing – E.g., Develop gender strategies that explicitly include living income objectives; build internal capacity and leadership on gender; allocate dedicated budgets for gender integration; collaborate to achieve scale.
Measurement & Analysis – E.g., Use gender-disaggregated data and methodologies that capture the experiences of all household members, not just farm owners; assess gender-related risks; measure time use and returns on labour and include unpaid work in cost and price calculations.
Design & Implementation of Interventions – E.g., Base interventions on gender analysis and inclusive dialogue with women and men of different ages; support women’s participation and leadership in producer organizations and enable equal access to training, finance and resources; support women’s independent economic activities; engage with men to challenge harmful gender norms.
Evaluation of Effectiveness – Develop gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation systems; assess how different types of interventions affect gender relations and household incomes and use findings to refine programmes.
Depending on a company’s position in the supply chain, their roles will vary – for some actions they may lead or implement, for others they may provide funding or other forms or support. Some companies are already taking actions associated with more advanced practice and can decide which additional measures would best complement their existing programmes. Others are at an earlier stage and will need to gradually build up towards full gender integration. The paper includes good practice examples from companies such as Lidl, Nespresso, Mars, ECOM, and Hershey’s, and other resources and guidance for companies to use as they move through this journey.
A Call to Action
Understanding and addressing gender inequalities is essential to achieving living incomes and respecting human rights. Integrating gender equality into living income strategies will not only accelerate progress towards decent livelihoods for farming families but also contribute to stronger, more resilient and more equitable supply chains.
As Anna Laven, gender and livelihoods expert, succinctly puts it:
“Gender inequality is part of the living income problem. And gender equality is part of the solution.”
The ARI-LICoP Gender Action Framework offers a practical pathway for companies and the organizations they work with to assess where they stand, identify gaps, and plan next steps toward gender-transformative living income programmes.
Source: Adapted from Smith, S. & Stoikova, A. (2025). The Importance of Gender Equality for Living Incomes in Smallholder Farming Communities. Joint Briefing Paper, Anker Research Institute and Living Income Community of Practice.
[i] FAO. 2011. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11: Women in Agriculture – Closing the Gender Gap for Development. Food and Agriculture Organization: Rome.
[ii] FAO. 2023. The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems. Food and Agriculture Organization: Rome.
For more information:
Sally Smith, ARI Gender Lead and Senior Researcher: ssmith@ankerinstitute.org
Anny Stoikova, ISEAL Social Impact and Livelihoods Manager: anny@isealalliance.org
For general inquiries about the Anker Research Institute’s work, contact: inquiries@ankerinstitute.org
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Anker Research Institute or the Living Income Community of Practice (LICOP).