Agencia de Gobierno Electrónico y Sociedad de la Información y del Conocimiento

31 – Gender Policy in Agriculture: governance and transparency as a projection of the sector.

Brief description of the commitment: gender policy in agriculture has a decade of accumulated work, developing experience and working methodologies together with civil society. The work done, its evaluation, and adjustments enable us to seek for a policy that transcends government administrations and, as a state policy, to design medium-term lines of action to build an equitable agricultural sector. Within the framework of the Sectoral Gender Policy for Agriculture 2040 (PSG Agro), this commitment builds upon previous work.

To this end, it is proposed to create the mechanisms and tools to implement the follow-up, monitoring, accountability and transparency of the implementation in the five-year period 2025-2029 of the Gender Policy in Agriculture, through: the strengthening of the functioning of a civil society monitoring committee; the implementation of an online platform for the monitoring and accountability of progress; the publication of monitoring data as open data and the implementation of a viewer that facilitates public understanding of the execution of the policy.

Organization leading the commitment: Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP for its acronym in Spanish).

Supporting Institutions/organizations: Agricultural Planning Institute (IPA), National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), Agency for Electronic Government, Information and Knowledge Society (Agesic).

Responsible for the commitment: Matías Carámbula, Deputy Secretary MGAP, Contact subsecretaria@mgap.gub.uy . 

Technical Manager: Paula Florit, Coordinator (i) Specialized Gender Unit of MGAP, Contact: pflorit@mgap.gub.uy .

Actors:

1. Government: Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), Public Agricultural Institutes (National Meat Institute (INAC), National Colonization Institute (INC), Agricultural Planning Institute (IPA), National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA), National Seed Institute (INASE), National Institute of Viticulture (INAVI) and National Milk Institute (INALE).

2. Civil Society: Monitoring Commission (Native and Creole Seed Network, Network of Rural Women's Groups, National Association of Milk Producers, Rural Association of Uruguay, Rural Federation of Uruguay, Federated Agricultural Cooperatives, National Commission for Rural Development, Uruguayan Society of Rural Tourism.

Implementation period: September 2025 – June 2029.

Problem definition

What problem does the commitment intend to address?

As pillars of the country's economy and territorial sovereignty, rural areas and the agricultural sector face gender gaps that daily challenge the possibility for rural women, young women, and girls in choosing this path. These inequalities are evident in access to productive resources, technical assistance, employment, political representation, and the achievement of physical autonomy, among other dimensions. Thus, when society imagines rural and agricultural areas, it envisions a world dominated by men, resulting in a disparity of opportunities. These forms of injustice require sustained and long-term actions to modify cultural patterns and structural inequalities that hinder the creation of an inclusive and equitable agricultural sector. Despite this, women are key agents in the sector; they organize local initiatives, build their own organizations and influence mixed-gender organizations, produce goods, promote environmental stewardship strategies, and strive to make rural life a viable option for themselves, their families, and their communities.

For its part, a gender perspective also reveals how cultural patterns that identify agriculture with certain gender roles promote male-only ownership, encourage models of risk and exposure to health perceived as masculine, perpetuate biases, and ultimately obstruct diverse forms of generational succession. These patterns also overburden male figures with productive responsibilities and render invisible the central role of life reproduction. Consequently, advancing gender equality in agriculture and rural areas is not only a social justice imperative, but also an opportunity for the entire sector.

The agricultural sector has a decade of experience working on gender policies in collaboration between the State and Civil Society. Ten years after the first National Meeting of Rural Women and five years after its National Gender Plan, Uruguay's agricultural institutions have positioned themselves as a benchmark in the region for their coordinated work strategy. The process of institutionalizing the gender perspective within the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) and the seven public agricultural institutes entails a significant network of coordination within the sector and with other State agencies, as well as a methodology of ongoing dialogue with citizens. Key aspects of this reinforcement process include the presence and influence of rural women and agricultural associations in the design and oversight of public policies, the increasing training of public officials, and the expansion of on-the-ground initiatives in continuous collaboration with other institutions.

The preceding process has generated the institutional frameworks and the link with civil society to develop coordinated actions, based on social relevance and technical feasibility. However, the current budgetary situation demonstrates that gender policy continues to be an ad hoc policy. In this context, the conditions for mainstreaming gender, and especially for focusing on particularly vulnerable sectors within the agricultural economy, depend on a national decision to transform equity in rural and agricultural areas into a state policy, including, within these strategies, improving the policy by maintaining monitoring and transparency mechanisms.

As a response, agricultural institutions have set out the development of a new five-year plan, now linked to a longer-term initiative: the 2040 agricultural gender policy. This commitment aims at contributing to addressing the complex world of gender inequalities in agriculture by institutionalizing tools for dissemination and accessibility, monitoring, and transparency of public policies, particularly those related to the Agricultural Gender Policy .

What are the causes of the problem?

The causes of gender inequalities in rural areas are not fundamentally different from those in urban areas. However, they have specific characteristics related to the environment and the predominant sector (agriculture). The diagnosis that underpinned the National Gender Plan for Agricultural Policies (Florit, 2021) identified gender stereotypes, unequal distribution of resources, the sexual division of labor, and institutional patterns that reinforce gaps in internal and external policies as contributing factors.

The combined efforts of the agricultural sector have begun to have an impact, both at the institutional level and on the environment. However, there are still significant challenges to be tackled. Lack of resources to institutionalize gender policy within the budget makes it contingent to short-term decisions, external funding, and eventually to its interruption, representing a setback in the progress achieved in recent years. Therefore, developing long-term policies with enduring governance and monitoring strategies is crucial to ensuring continued progress toward gender equality. 

Additionally, the fact of creating a community of reference that understands and influences public policy improves it, doesn't fully guarantee that information reaches everyone in rural areas. Civil society identifies persistent gaps, not only in the access to services and resources in rural areas, but also in the access to information on existing public policies for rural and agricultural women. Therefore, it is necessary to expand the strategy for making information on public policies and rights available, as well as efforts to present that information in a more user-friendly way.

Description of the commitment

What has been done so far to solve the problem?

Previously, within the framework of Open Government, a commitment was made to monitor the National Gender Plan for Agricultural Policies (PNG Agro). This commitment involved the creation of a civil society monitoring committee, a periodic reporting strategy , and a transparency portal for the plan's actions. The evaluation of the process was highly positive: having an informed and engaged civil society involved in the monitoring allowed for precise observation of policy implementation, the identification of weaknesses and opportunities, and the development of improvements in policy design. This experience was also used as a model for other public policies, such as the National Family Farming Plan.

The creation and maintenance of a civil society monitoring committee, comprised of representatives from various agricultural sectors, is considered to have generated a methodology in itself and strengthened the policy's institutional framework. Furthermore, the availability of regular reports and a transparency platform helped establish oversight mechanisms to ensure the effective implementation of a significant portion of the policy.

Regarding information dissemination, it is understood that actions are still in their very early stages. The Registry of Rural and Agricultural Women was designed together with the Monitoring Commission , but its effective implementation was not launched, as the program concluded in February 2025. This Registry was a key tool for agricultural institutions to disseminate information more systematically, and therefore, lack of implementation of the mass dissemination strategy meant that it was addressed to a lesser extent.

Speech by the civil society monitoring committee at the closing of the PNG Agro

Dear colleagues, representatives of institutions and organizations, friends:

Today we are closing an important chapter in the history of gender-sensitive agricultural policies. As representatives of the Monitoring Commission, we are here to express our deepest gratitude for having been part of the development of this National Gender Plan for Agricultural Policies. This plan was not just a document, but a genuine commitment to transforming the lives of rural and agricultural women, joining forces with state institutions and civil society organizations.

In our regard, it has not only been a tremendous learning experience, but also a great responsibility. This journey began with a strong commitment: to work hand in hand, to identify the needs and priorities of those women who contribute so much from the countryside, but whose voices are often lost in the echoes of distance. Together, rooted in our communities, we embarked on a path of dialogue and collaboration that encompassed a wide diversity of situations and approaches. There were 16 sessions in the commission since October 28, 2021, where we had a direct impact on several of the policies that rural women have had access to. We were heard and had the opportunity to contribute our perspectives, our struggles, and our dreams. It wasn't an easy path. There were differences, as in any human process, but the most important thing is that these differences didn't separate us; on the contrary, they have made us closer. Together, we built a shared vision that was enriched by our diverse perspectives and that, at the end of the day, made us stronger.

Several years have gone by since we started, and at the time, we didn't know what this journey would be like. It was a slow, painstaking, and meticulous process, but today we can see the results. Today, we see empowered, more self-confident women, who are able to diversify their activities, achieving economic independence, and transforming not only their own lives, but also those of their communities.

This is why we say that this plan must transcend successive administrations. We also emphasize, as a matter of continuity, the importance of strengthening current initiatives and the connection with the national commissions on gender, the environment, and agroecology. We suggest for the accountability report to address the significant inequalities that gave rise to the plan and which, despite its implementation, persist. What we value most about this process is the transparency and trust built between the institutions and our organizations. We highlight the commitment of the agricultural institutions that fully embraced this process and the team behind this plan. At every event, in every region, at every mid-term evaluation, we felt that this plan was more than just a policy: it was a way of working closely together, with empathy and collaboration. Today, we can say with pride and excitement that we have achieved real changes and transformations. This is just the beginning. The path towards equal opportunities and justice for rural women continues, but today we celebrate what we have accomplished it together. To all the rural women, organizations, and institutions that made this possible, thank you. Thank you for your commitment, your courage, and for demonstrating that working together make us unstoppable.

 

PNG Agro Monitoring Committee, 1.10.2024

Source: Representative organizations on the PNG Agro monitoring committee

What solution does it propose?

The Sectoral Gender Policy for Agriculture aims at establishing an institutionalized policy, capable of transcending government administrations, that incorporates gender equity as a mandate and effective objective of the agricultural sector. This medium-term policy includes an updated assessment, guidelines for achieving equity in the sector over the next 15 years, and concrete, measures that can be monitored to implement these guidelines during the 2025-2029 government administration. This product, developed through a participatory process with significant input from the Monitoring Commission that oversaw the 2021-2024 plan, prioritizes making substantial progress towards equity through actions that simultaneously combine social relevance, technical feasibility, and political-strategic alignment. The Sectoral Gender Policy for Agriculture is structured around five components aimed at improving gender equality in rural areas and the agricultural sector: (i) Production systems, value chains, and agricultural networks with gender equity; (ii) Agricultural knowledge management and rural extension with a gender perspective; (iii) Women's agency in actions related to the environment and nature in the agricultural sector; (iv) Participation and influence of rural women; and (v) Agricultural institutions with equity. Within its implementation, a fifth component of management and monitoring will be especially key and makes the basis of the current proposal within the framework of Open Government.

First, the commitment focuses on building upon the successes of the previous PNG Agro monitoring process. In this regard, it is proposed for the Monitoring Commission to remain operational and be strengthened through a more prominent role in the design of the Sectoral Policy [13]. Specifically, it is expected to: (i) create a functioning and engaged commission; (ii) increase the visibility of the Commission's work.

Secondly, it is understood that it is possible to improve how the transparency of the policy is made visible and monitorable, not only at the commission level, but also by allowing, for example, for the monitoring to be carried out by other civil society actors or even through academic research. To this end, it is proposed to: (i) transform the baseline information for monitoring and transparency of the policy into open data; (ii) improve how the monitoring information is made available in an open government viewer; (iii) make the Agro Gender Policy itself available in an online book, published on the institutional website, with a hyperlink in each measure to the relevant section of the viewer, so that the Agro Gender Policy remains connected to its monitoring report, in keeping with the principle of “a policy to be implemented.”

Finally, in order to improve access to general public policy information, a sub-page will be designed in conjunction with the Monitoring Commission within the MGAP website where public policy information will be organized, grouped in a single space and with links to the sources.

What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

• To deepen citizen control over gender policies in the agricultural sector.

• To institutionalize the agricultural sector policy by allowing citizen oversight not only for a five-year period, but also for a 15-year projection.

• To democratize access to public policies for rural and agricultural women.

Commitment analysis

How will the commitment promote transparency?

It will allow access to information from a monitoring committee and through access to open data.

How will the commitment help foster accountability?

The commitment itself includes semi-annual accountability reports, both in the commission's instances and on the transparency platform.

How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

An active and leading monitoring committee is planned, representative of 7 to 10 national rural and mixed agricultural women's organizations.