Feminist & Fair: The Future of Supply Chains

Marginalised groups worldwide, women making up the largest group, suffer from structural inequalities and discrimination. Although women significantly contribute to food production, they make up 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty. Social norms restrict access to land, markets, and decision-making power, further perpetuating systemic and normative inequities within agricultural supply chains. For instance, women own merely 13.8 percent of land, in more than 100 countries they remain barred from certain professions, and only 26 women are heads of government.

In its coalition agreement, the German government committed itself to the implementation of a Feminist Development Policy  (Feminist development policy | BMZ). The policy focuses on balanced power relations and (gender) equity. The policy focuses on balanced power relations and (gender) equity. Feminist Development Policy addresses structural inequalities by approaching the causes of injustices and focusing on equal rights, fair distribution of resources, and equal representation of marginalised groups across the globe (3R’s). 

Rights:

Feminist Development Policy ensures that women and other marginalised groups can fully exercise their rights, for example the right to live free from violence as well as sexual and reproductive rights. It helps dismantle the barriers and discrimination that hinder these groups from realising their rights. 

Representation:

Feminist Development Policy addresses the structural causes of inequality and disproportionate power relations to improve the representation of women and marginalised groups in decision-making processes and raise awareness of gender-specific issues. This includes direct engagement with women and representatives of marginalised groups.

Resources:

Feminist Development Policy ensures equal access to resources for women, girls, and other marginalised groups through targeted measures. 

Feminist Development Policy also adopts an intersectional approach. Intersectionality is a concept that relates to the interconnectedness of various social identities such as gender, class, and sexual orientation to uncover the complexity of structural discrimination. It recognises that these identities cannot be viewed in isolation but are interwoven and can influence and reinforce one another. Thus, feminist development policy does not just target women and girls, but rather all marginalised groups.