The Kosovo gender profile for agriculture and rural livelihoods aims to improve knowledge on gender‑related issues in agriculture. It proposes evidence‑based recommendations for advancing gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in agriculture and rural development, including ensuring women's access to digital tools. The recommendations seek to inform several strategies and programmes as per the authorities’ commitments to ensuring that these are informed by gender analysis. This gender assessment begins with an overview of gender equality in Kosovo, examining the agriculture sector, legal framework, demographics, migration, politics, education, food security, nutrition, vulnerabilities to climate change, health, gender‑based violence and intersectional inequalities affecting vulnerable groups. It identifies ways to enhance inclusive agricultural development and the sustainable development of rural communities, considering gender roles and differences among diverse women and men in access to productive resources, inputs, information and participation. It proposes evidence‑based recommendations for gender‑responsive strategies towards women’s empowerment in the agriculture sector, rural development, and sustainable and transformative agrifood systems, and inclusive digital strategies.

Despite the legal and policy foundation of BiH, gender considerations have only marginally been mainstreamed in state and entity policies on rural development or other sectors related to agriculture. At the state level, the Strategic Plan for Rural Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2018-2021) addresses support for women as a cross-cutting initiative but fails to fully mainstream gender. Rather, the strategy includes a stand-alone sub-section on gender equality that presents rather superficial analysis of gender disparities in rural areas and includes no strategic guidance. Measures are suggested for “young people/women” in combination and for improving access to business grants, rural loans and agricultural associations. One monitoring indicator measures “women’s participation” in investment programs for agricultural holdings and diversification of rural economy (Strategic Plan for Rural Development of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2018-2021). The inconsistent application of gender mainstreaming to policy development and the very limited capacity of most line ministries to include a gender perspective in their core work contribute to a situation in which gender equality is poorly reflected in state policies that concern agriculture and rural development. Meanwhile, rural areas are marked by women’s poverty, which is linked to their economic dependence, over representation in informal and unpaid work, and the fact that elderly rural women in particular tend not to be covered by the pension system and are often living alone because they are widowed.

Across the world, unpaid care work - unpaid housework, care of persons, and "volunteer" work - is done predominantly by women. This book presents and compares unpaid care work patterns in seven different countries. It analyzes data drawn from large-scale time use surveys carried out under the auspices of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). With its in-depth concentration on time use patterns in developing nations, this book will offer many new insights for scholars of gender and care.