Leveraging digital solutions to address gender inequalities in EU agriculture: a CODECS framework application

In rural Europe, women in farming face significant challenges. Despite carrying out a large portion of the agricultural work, they often have less access to land, income, education, and decision-making power than men. This inequality makes it more difficult for women to operate successful farms, earn a fair living, or have a strong voice in their communities. This study looks at whether digital technologies such as soil sensors, crop-monitoring drones, and digital marketplaces could help reduce these gender gaps.

To investigate this, the authors use the multi-level CODECS framework that looks at the interactions between day-to-day farm work, the surrounding digital services and markets, and broader national policies and social norms. This approach helps reveal how gender inequalities appear at each of these levels and helps identify ways to address them. The research highlights real-world examples from across Europe where digital platforms have successfully helped women farmers by increasing their visibility, providing access to new markets, saving them time, and building supportive networks. However, it also cautions that if digital tools are not designed with women's needs in mind, they could unintentionally make existing inequalities worse. Finally, the study offers practical policy suggestions, such as using co-design strategies that include women, improving data collection on women in agriculture, and ensuring that online spaces are both safe and accessible.