- The Plate
Your Shot: Who Runs the Harvest (Girls)
When pop star Beyoncé wrote her female empowerment anthem, “Run the World (Girls),” she probably wasn’t focused on who runs the farms that feed us. But she could have.
Women make up 43 percent of agriculture workers in developing countries, yet they tend to be less productive than men because they have less access to information, money, and help with other household responsibilities, according to a 2011 report on the state of agriculture by the Food and Agriculture Organization. “The gender gap imposes real costs on society in terms of lost agricultural output, food security and economic growth,” the report says.
To fix it, many aid groups have prioritized focusing on women: creating agricultural outreach programs to help educate them on running a businesses,