Harvesting rye, for our daily bread (Spain)

The contribution by women to the family economy has been the norm since the first farming economies and this is still the case for most women (rural and urban) in the developing world, where important gender differences exist.

In 2015, 49% of women make up of the workforce as a whole, compared to 72 % of men. The parts of the world with the figures closest to equality for workforce are Sub-Saharan Africa (65% women and 76% men) and East Asia and the Pacific (62 and 79), areas where the population is still mostly rural and farm-work on small family plots is unpaid. The area with the greatest disparity is Southern Asia (28 % and 79 % respectively).

In Spain and other European states, farm-work, family care and services done by women has been defined as family help, until a few decades ago.