GENDER DIMENSION IN EU AGRICULTURAL POLICY

The main input of this paper is an examination of gender mainstreaming in the main agricultural policy documents of selected EU countries by applying a developed qualitative assessment framework based on the most important gender-linked issues. The agriculture sector has significant gender equality gaps due to limited access for women to land rights and productive resources, unpaid work issues, and restrictions in employment and decision-making. Gender has a profound impact on women's and men's roles, access to and ownership of land and other resources, and their ability to make decisions in the agriculture sector. For the EU, integrating a gender perspective in agriculture is crucial for achieving gender equality and women's empowerment in the sector, enabling women to participate and benefit from a low-carbon transition in agriculture. Integrating a gender dimension into agriculture policies is also crucial for improving the effectiveness of agriculture programs and policies, which impact food supply security, poverty reduction, and increased resilience to climate change. The primary EU policy document in agriculture is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). To assess the EU agriculture policies in terms of integration of gender equality principles, the countries with CAP Strategic Implementation Plans for the period 2023-2027 were selected for analysis. These countries include Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden, representing different EU geographical (South, North, East, West) and economic (new EU members and old EU member states) regions. The CAP strategic implementation plans of the selected countries were evaluated through a gender lens to highlight the main aspects that would suggest that the implementation of the plan under assessment would contribute to improving gender equality and reducing gender exclusion in the EU agriculture sector.