Pictures from ©Tineke Dhaese/Oxfam
On 2 October 2025, Oxfam brought together farmers, EU policymakers, researchers, and civil society organisations to explore how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform for 2027-2034 can be more gender inclusive.
This dialogue built on research conducted by Oxfam and Wageningen University, as well as national-level policy dialogues that took place in Spain, Poland, and Austria. To set the stage, agrifood journalist Natasha Foote provided an overview of the European Commission’s CAP reform proposal, which introduces a new budget structure—the National and Regional Partnerships (NRP) Fund—merging agricultural and rural support budgets into a single instrument. The proposal is now entering negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament. Whether it will deliver a more flexible, locally responsive CAP—or instead fragment policy coherence and accountability—remains to be seen.
Following this introduction, participants worked in small breakout groups to identify practical measures to advance gender equality in farming.
While European Commission representatives viewed the reform as an opportunity to adopt a more holistic and inclusive policy approach, farmers expressed deep scepticism, pointing out that past reforms had failed to address the structural inequalities shaping the agricultural sector. Farmers called for a reform of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation to ensure fair prices and strengthen farmers’ positions in the market.
Discussions also touched on social conditionality, gender budgeting, training and awareness-raising, and the need to challenge entrenched gender norms in agriculture.
Key Recommendations from the Dialogue
- To strengthen advocacy and impact:
- Engage directly with national representatives.
- Frame messages around economic impact and generational renewal.
- Build on existing legal and policy frameworks.
- To promote change within the CAP and beyond:
- Ensure synergies between the CAP and other EU policies.
- Apply gender budgeting to the CAP to track and adapt spending.
- Bring more women to the table in decision-making spaces.
- Raise awareness on gender equality at all policy levels.
- Mainstream gender in National Strategic Plans (NRPs).
- Question the current CAP model.
- Foster inclusive EU farming networks that empower women farmers.
Some farmers made a long journey to attend this short but essential meeting. However, they emphasised how valuable it was to engage directly with decision-makers. Opportunities like this, they noted, help humanise agricultural policymaking.
For more details, please see the report of the EU policy dialogue.
Watch all the pictures in the Flickr album here below
