Advancing gender equality through the CAP: lessons from Spain
Spain stands out as an inspiring example of using the CAP to reduce the gender gap in rural areas through a variety of interventions in its CAP Strategic Plan.
The European Commission's Gender Equality Strategy outlined actions to achieve a gender-equal Europe by 2025 across all policy areas. Against this background, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports gender equality in rural areas, particularly under Specific Objective 8 - Jobs, growth and equality in rural areas, promoting employment, growth, representation in decision-making processes, participation in farming businesses, social inclusion and local development.
In this very diverse context, only a few CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) 2023-2027 explicitly include actions for gender equality in agriculture and the rural economy. Spain stands out as an inspiring example of using the CAP to reduce the gender gap in rural areas. This is achieved through a range of interventions in its CSP, including cooperation, investments, and complementary income support for young women farmers.
At the time of the negotiations for the 2023-2027 Spanish CAP, some of the priorities were the inclusion of a gender perspective and allowing for positive action to be taken through Member States’ CSPs. In Spain, specific actions were identified by the dedicated Working Subgroup coordinated by the Directorate-General for Rural Development, Innovation and Forestry Policy, which focused on the CAP Specific Objective 8.
Gender gaps in employment and pensions are greater in rural areas than in the rest of the country (in line with the general situation across the EU). This makes it even more urgent to tap into the CAP's potential to improve the working conditions of women in farming and rural areas, to help them enter, and remain in, the profession, and to participate in decision-making processes and bodies.
Mainstreaming gender equality across the Spanish CSP
Gender equality is included in both Pillars of the Spanish CSP, which grants specific additional funding to women already active in agriculture or wishing to start a new business.
Under the first Pillar - direct payments - the intervention Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers is 15% higher if the farm's owner or co-owner is a woman.
Under the CAP's second Pillar, 17 of the regional Managing Authorities (MAs) managing the CAP (one per Autonomous Community or Region) have included gender balance in 39 out of the 45 interventions. This is done through specific selection criteria, such as giving priority to projects (or businesses, including farms) led by women, creating permanent jobs for women, or increasing the percentage of women in governance bodies. Priority is also given to legal entities where women hold a greater proportion of the share capital.
Most MAs include gender balance in the selection criteria for the following CSP interventions:
- Aid for investments in modernisation and/or improvement of agricultural holdings (15 MAs)
- Establishment of young farmers (14 MAs)
- LEADER (13 MAs)
- Knowledge transfer and training, and information activities (12 MAs); here, it is noteworthy that some MAs grant women priority access to training and advisory services
- Aid for investments in the processing, marketing, and/or development of agri-food products (10 MAs)
- Aid for productive investments in agricultural holdings linked to contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation, efficient use of natural resources, and animal welfare (8 MAs)
- Advisory services (8 MAs)
- Agri-environmental commitments on agricultural land for integrated production; sustainable crops; promotion and sustainable management of pastures; beekeeping for biodiversity; and maintenance or improvement of habitats and traditional agricultural activities that preserve biodiversity (2 MAs)
- Agri-environmental management commitments in organic farming (2 MAs)
- Commitments for the conservation of genetic resources (2 MAs)
- Aid for areas with natural or other specific constraints (2 MAs)
- Payments for specific handicaps resulting from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Natura 2000 Network (2 MAs)
In some regions, LEADER includes a requirement for gender balance in the decision-making bodies of the Local Action Groups (LAGs). Criteria used to incentivise gender balance to project applicants include awarding a higher percentage of co-funding for women-led applications or applicants (organisations) that have an Equality Plan.
A supportive environment
The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture website provides information on initiatives addressing gender balance, one noteworthy example being the law approved in 2024 in Andalusia on the Statute of Rural and Sea Women, which includes 29 measures to enhance gender equality in the agricultural, fishery and agri-food sectors.
Information highlighting initiatives for rural women can also be found on the Spanish National Network website. The Network is also very much involved in the promotion of the Annual Rural Women Awards, which began in 2010, and reward new, excellent, original and innovative projects and actions that recognise the work and role of women in rural areas and promote women’s inclusion in the local labour market.
The Association of Women Agri-Food Cooperatives of Spain (AMCAE), part of the Agri-Food Cooperatives of Spain, is a key organisation promoting female leadership in the agri-food cooperative sector. Interesting examples of women’s involvement include agricultural cooperatives such as Bodegas Campos Reales (in Cuenca) or Cooperativa Colival in Valdepeñas (Ciudad Real) in the Castilla-La Mancha region, which have higher numbers of women in management positions. Whilst highlighting the good examples, AMCAE acknowledges that work remains to be done, as women currently represent only 28% of the cooperative membership, and only 10% of women on the Board of Directors.
FADEMUR – the Spanish Federation of Rural Women Association - promotes the initiative ‘Cultivating Equality’ (Cultivando Igualdad), through which the Castilla-La Mancha region has transformed its regional agricultural offices into safe spaces against gender violence, strengthening the protection and support of women in rural areas.
If you want to learn more about the Spanish experience, consider contacting the Spanish National Network
For an EU-wide perspective, keep an eye on the EU CAP Network's Agricultural and Rural Inspiration Awards – ARIA, which, since 2024, has included a special cross-cutting award for CAP-funded projects promoting gender equality. Learn more about the winner of the 2024 edition, 'FRAU iDA – Space for women entrepreneurs’ (Austria).