In 2026, the world will turn its attention to the women who sustain our food systems every day. The United Nations has officially declared 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF 2026), a global opportunity to recognize, celebrate, and support the millions of women whose work is fundamental to food security, nutrition, and sustainable development.
Despite their essential contributions, women farmers remain among the most undervalued and under-supported actors in agrifood systems. IYWF 2026 aims to change that by making women farmers visible, amplifying their voices, and accelerating action toward gender equality across food systems worldwide.
Why the International Year of the Woman Farmer Matters
Women play a central role in agrifood systems, from growing food and managing natural resources to processing, trading, and preserving traditional knowledge. Yet their work is often unpaid, informal, or unrecognized. Structural inequalities continue to limit women’s access to land, finance, training, technology, and decision-making spaces.
The International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 seeks to raise public awareness of these realities while highlighting the solutions. By placing women farmers at the center of global attention, the Year aims to promote policies, investments, and partnerships that close gender gaps and improve livelihoods, contributing to poverty reduction and a more food-secure future for all.
Women Farmers: Who They Are and What They Do
The term women farmers reflects a broad and inclusive reality. Women farmers are all women working across agrifood systems, in every segment of the value chain and in every region of the world.
They include:
- Farmers, producers, peasants, and smallholder and family farmers
- Seasonal agricultural workers and informal laborers
- Fishers, fish workers, beekeepers, pastoralists, and foresters
- Processors, traders, and rural entrepreneurs
- Traditional knowledge holders and women in agricultural sciences
Women farmers encompass women in all their diversity: young and older women, Indigenous women and women in local communities, women with disabilities, refugee and displaced women, and many others.
Crucially, this definition recognizes women’s contributions regardless of land ownership or employment status, and values both formal and informal work, including leadership, care, and domestic labor that sustains families and communities. Together, these roles underpin food security, nutrition, economic resilience, and rural livelihoods worldwide.
What the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 Aims to Achieve
The International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 is not only about recognition, it is about action. Its key objectives include:
- Raising awareness of women’s roles in agrifood systems and the barriers they face
- Highlighting persistent challenges, such as insecure land tenure, limited access to finance and technology, and unequal access to education and services
- Encouraging gender-responsive policies and investments that empower women farmers
- Strengthening collaboration among international initiatives, governments, civil society, and grassroots movements working to support women in agrifood systems
By aligning advocacy, research, and on-the-ground action, IYWF 2026 aims to create lasting change beyond the Year itself.
A Shared Moment: Women Farmers, Pastoralists, and Climate Resilience
The year 2026 carries special significance. Alongside IYWF 2026, the United Nations will also observe the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP).
Together, these global observances amplify one another, shining a light on the vital role of women and pastoral communities in sustaining rangelands, protecting biodiversity, and building climate resilience from the ground up. Women pastoralists, in particular, play a crucial yet often invisible role in managing natural resources and maintaining food systems in some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems.
This dual celebration also reinforces the goals of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028), which promotes inclusive policies and investments that support family farmers, women, and rural communities as key actors in sustainable agrifood systems.
Looking Ahead: From Recognition to Transformation
The International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 is a milestone, but it is also a call to action. Recognizing women farmers is not enough unless it leads to concrete change in laws, investments, and social norms.
By centering women farmers in global conversations about food, climate, and development, IYWF 2026 offers a powerful opportunity to build more equitable, resilient, and sustainable agrifood systems where the women who feed the world are no longer invisible, but valued, supported, and empowered.
