This results in what has been referred to in recent years as the "feminization" of agriculture.
Broadly understood, we mean by this the increased importance of women's role in agriculture,
whether as measured by the ratio between women and men in this sector or whether it is
reflected in the high proportion of women whose main employment is in agriculture. Though a
global phenomenon, the feminization of agriculture shows important regional variations.
Women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural workforce in developing countries in general
(FAO 2010: 9). But they still represent only about 20 percent of the total agricultural workforce
in agriculture in Latin America, although the presence of women in the waged agricultural
workforce in the region's agro-export sector has increased over the years (Deere 2005). In
comparison, the feminization of agriculture has been more pronounced in Asia and in Africa.
Though the share of women in agriculture has remained stable in recent years in some Asian
countries, at between 40 and 50 per cent of the total agricultural workforce (and at 30 per cent
in India), even declining in Malaysia and the Philippines, it has increased in China (where it is
now at about 48 per cent), and especially in Pakistan (now at 30 percent, triple the percentage
of 30 years ago) and Bangladesh (where it is above 50 per cent) (FAO 2010: 9). In Africa, the
share of women in agriculture has also increased, in part as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,
of conflict and migration