Gender equality

In agriculture women farmers play an important role as food producers and food providers with specific tasks, responsibilities and needs that are to be taken into consideration with interventions to increase nutrition and food security. In HIV/AIDS the vulnerability of women and girls is higher in comparison to men, and causes and consequences are gender-specific. SDC together with partners will improve gender-sensitive planning and targeting, services, tools and approaches to address such gender-specific dimensions in Food security and HIV/AIDS as part of the overall goal of poverty reduction.

A man and a woman having a discussion in a working group on gender issues in Bangladesh
SDC/John Paul Kay

For the SDC, gender equality is a transversal theme, a theme cutting across all of the SDC’s development programmes where it is systematically fostered. Indeed, the reduction of discrimination based on gender is at once both a goal of development and a pre-condition for development to take place.

The SDC's worldwide engagement

Woman during a medical consultation with her baby in Gambia
SDC/Laura Dem

Gender equality is crucial for effectively reducing poverty and improving the economic prospects of partner countries. SECO strives to offer women and men equal opportunities for development.

The SECO's worldwide engagement