Through their responsibilities for processing food for markets and preparing it for the home, women generally play a key role in ensuring the quality and safety of what people eat. Education about hygiene and sanitation needs to target the concerns and schedules of women, as they do most of the cooking in their homes.
Women continue to provide a large proportion of the labour that goes into agriculture and food production. FAO's estimates show that women represent a substantial share of the agricultural labour force, as individual food producers or as agricultural workers, and that around two-thirds of the female labour force in developing economies is engaged in agricultural work and/or food production.
