The production of agricultural goods for food and non-food purposes, as well as activities connected to food storage, transportation, processing, and distribution, employ more than one third of all working women worldwide. 

However, a fresh report from FAO claims that the gender pay gap, which accounts for a 24% difference in productivity between women and men farmers on farms of same size, is caused by gender inequities such as lower access for women to resources and expertise as well as a larger unpaid care load. 

Additionally, women in the agricultural industry receive pay that is about 20% less than that of men. 

In a period of rising global hunger, addressing the gender gap in farm production and the wage disparity in agricultural employment, according to FAO, would "increase global gross domestic product by nearly $1 trillion and reduce the number of food-insecure people by 45 million". 

More than 345 million people worldwide, an increase of about 200 million since early 2020, are predicted to experience food insecurity at crisis levels this year, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP). 43 million of them are on the verge of famine.