Brussels, Belgium – June 25, 2025 – The vital role of women’s entrepreneurship in fostering resilient economies across the European Union’s rural, island, and outermost regions took centre stage today at a public hearing convened by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), with the participation of the Committee on Agriculture.
The session, aimed at exploring effective strategies to empower women entrepreneurs, featured an insightful presentation from Maura Farrell, Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor at the University of Galway and Project Coordinator of the FLIARA (Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas) Project.
In her opening remarks, Dr. Farrell expressed her delight to share insights from FLIARA, a Horizon Europe research and innovation project involving 15 partners across 10 EU countries. She emphasised the project’s core aim: “exploring and understanding the challenges and creating an awareness around the role that women play in innovative practices of agriculture and in rural areas.”
Farrell highlighted the unique challenges faced by rural areas, including demographic decline, limited opportunities, and the impacts of climate change and COVID-19. However, she underscored that these challenges also present opportunities, particularly in digital and ecological transitions, which are opening new pathways for women. She stressed that “if we want inclusive innovation, which is essential to enhance our rural areas, then this is also especially essential for women”, who often contend with gender stereotypes, care responsibilities, and barriers to land access, finance, and education.
The FLIARA project’s extensive work includes a foresight and trend analysis looking 15 to 20 years into the future. This research found that women have the potential for high impact in social and environmental innovations but face significant barriers in political, economic, and technological spheres. Crucially, FLIARA’s findings suggest that “soft and social measures are much more effective than hard administrative ones to advance women’s agenda in relation to sustainability,” and that “using local, bottom-up approaches to engage women meaningfully is again a much better advantage.”
Further enriching the discussion, Dr. Farrell presented findings from 20 case studies involving 200 interviews with women innovators across Europe. These interviews revealed persistent challenges such as a lack of financial resources, bureaucratic hurdles, limited land access, and inadequate rural services, including childcare and transportation. Despite these obstacles, the women demonstrated remarkable impacts, showcasing diverse and novel innovations driven by personal motivation, a strong environmental ethos, and robust family networks. Many of these innovations have resulted in significant local impacts.
FLIARA’s commitment to supporting women innovators extends to its “Community of Practice and Ambassadors” initiative, which spotlights successful women and connects grassroots initiatives with institutional structures.
Looking ahead, Dr. Farrell outlined FLIARA’s ongoing work in policy design and assessment, which will lead to national and EU-level policy briefs, benchmarking reports, and good practice guides. She elaborated on crucial policy areas requiring attention:
In the realm of finance and land access, FLIARA advocates for targeted grants, loans, and microfunding for women-led initiatives at various scales, ensuring support beyond just the start-up phase. This also includes securing equal rights for women to lease land and access local spaces vital for their enterprises.
Regarding training and visibility, the project calls for specially tailored training programmes designed for women, alongside widespread promotion of women-led innovations, potentially leveraging existing initiatives such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) programme.
Networking and peer support are highlighted as profoundly impactful for women innovators, with a strong emphasis on strengthening peer-to-peer networks and national platforms to foster collaborative environments. Encouraging local and knowledge engagement among women is also seen as critical.
For work-life balance and health support, FLIARA stresses the increasing necessity of flexibility around illness and maternity leave for women entrepreneurs. Addressing existing rural childcare gaps and boosting farm relief services are also vital steps to enable women to further their innovative endeavours.
In terms of leadership and representation, it is imperative to ensure that the voices of women in rural areas and in agricultural leadership positions are not only heard but actively amplified. Promoting equality in land succession and generational renewal is also a key objective.
Finally, in policy design, the project advocates for adaptable policies that move away from a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Instead, it calls for the strengthening of existing programmes like the CAP strategic plans and the LEADER programme to specifically target and support innovative practices led by women.
“Supporting women-led innovation in agriculture and rural areas is not just beneficial, but it’s essential to the long-term growth, sustainability, and gender empowerment and equality of women,” Dr. Farrell concluded, reinforcing the critical message of the FLIARA project.
The hearing continued with contributions from other distinguished experts, including Sally Shortall, Rebecca Fischer-Bensoussan, Camille Agon, Josette Dijkhuizen, and Martina Roche, further enriching the multi-faceted discussion on women’s entrepreneurship in these vital European regions.
The full session can be watched here on the European Parliament’s multimedia platform.