The attached blog post by Raymond Brandes from SNV elaborates on the challenges and opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in agriculture. Brandes is global program manager of SNV’s Enhancing Opportunities for Women’s Enterprises (EOWE) program, which is being implemented between 2016 and 2020 in Kenya and Vietnam with funding from the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women framework.

Brandes states that over the past several years, there has been increasing evidence regarding the importance of women’s economic participation, both for the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality as well as for the economic well-being of families, communities, sectors and nations. In the blog, Brandes elaborates on the intervention strategy of the EOWE program that builds on the Balancing Benefits framework, which is developed by SNV as a gender-transformative, integrated fourfold approach that stimulates household and community dialogue to challenge gender norms that shape resource allocation patterns. Men are engaged in the dialogues too, and role models and community influencers are identified to act as change agents. Brandes argues that to make the shift away from “gender neutral” (but really gender-blind) service provision, companies need to disaggregate client data by sex, so that they can identify and differentiate women’s market segments. Only then can organizations begin to understand women’s specific needs and constraints, whether they’re seeking access to farm equipment or financial services, and design and deliver products accordingly.