Skip to main content
European Commission
Knowledge4Policy (K4P)

Assessing dairy’s role in women’s empowerment A systematic review

  • Publication | 2026
Global Food and Nutrition Security

The purpose of this paper is to review the available evidence on the impacts of dairy production on SDG5, Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls. Results show that dairy development can contribute to women's empowerment, but the effects are generally modest. While women often gain some influence in household and dairy-related decision-making and benefit from improved household income, nutrition, and social status, they also tend to experience a higher workload. In many cases, men benefit more than women in terms of assets and income, which may widen gender gaps. Despite these challenges, many women view dairying positively because of its overall benefits to their families. Overall, the findings show that dairy development can support gender equality and women’s empowerment, but these outcomes should not be assumed. They depend on how dairy interventions are designed and implemented, particularly on whether they address women’s access to and control over productive resources, income and decision-making while avoiding disproportionate increases in their workload. The review also identifies important evidence gaps that can help guide future research and the design and evaluation of more gender-responsive dairy development interventions.

Resources
More information and links
Authors
Otte, J.; Felis Rota, A.; Pica-Ciamarra, U.; Reyes, E.;
Geographic coverageGlobal
Available from

28 Oct 2026

Related organisation(s)FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Knowledge service | MetadataGlobal Food and Nutrition Security | Gender Equality and Food Systems | Food and nutrition securityGender-transformative approachliterature reviewWomens' empowerment
Digital Europa Thesaurus (DET)livestockgender equalitylivestock farmingdairy production
Related reading
More
Privacy statements, terms and conditions.
You will be directed to the EU Login website where you can login/register as a user. Once connected, your credentials (First name, last name, username, email) will be registered in Knowledge4policy as part of your profile, which will allow you to get involved in all Knowledge4policy communities (help is available).
You are leaving EUROPA

You are about to navigate to an external website. Please note that we are not responsible for its content.