A Review of Gender-Responsive Extension Approaches for Enhancing Women’s Participation and Empowerment in Food Technology Systems

Women play a vital yet often overlooked role in food technology, which includes food processing, value addition, quality control, and entrepreneurship. Despite their contributions, numerous socio-cultural, institutional, and structural barriers limit their participation in technology adoption and innovation. Gender-responsive extension approaches provide a way to tackle these barriers by tailoring advisory services, training, ICT tools, and institutional support to meet the specific needs of women. This review compiles current literature on participatory extension models, gender-sensitive capacity building, ICT-enabled advisory systems, institutional mainstreaming, and policy-related initiatives that enhance women’s involvement in food technology. A conceptual framework illustrates the path from gender-based barriers to greater participation and broader social and economic impacts. Tables summarizing extension methods, gendered barriers, and their corresponding solutions offer an analytical overview of the evidence. The review concludes that integrating gender-responsive strategies into food technology extension systems not only improves women’s technical skills, business capabilities, and decision-making power but also fosters inclusive food systems, better livelihoods, and sustainable development outcomes. Future research should focus on intersectional strategies, scalable digital tools, and systematic monitoring to further boost women’s empowerment in food technology.