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This report explores how gender equality can contribute to food security. Its focus is on Asia and the Pacific, though developments in other regions are also referenced. The report describes the relationship between gender-based discrimination and the different channels through which households and individuals access food. It concludes that while equality of treatment between women and men and food security are mutually supportive, gender equality remains an elusive goal in many regions, and a transformation of traditional gender roles is urgently needed. Such a transformation can be enhanced with improved information about the range of inequalities and specific constraints facing women. A simultaneous and integrated pursuit of such information and transformation is essential for gender equality strategies and food security strategies to complement each other and maximize their synergy. Measures that only help relieve women of their burdens and recognize their largely undervalued contributions to household chores and the “care” economy are insufficient. Such measures must be linked with strategies that pave the way to transformed, equitable gender systems.
Women and girls worldwide face many inequities and constraints, often embedded in norms and practices and encoded in legal provisions. Some laws, such as those governing access to land, include inequitable and exclusionary provisions, thus institutionalizing discrimination. Where such legislative measures are not in place, customary rules and practices often have restrictive consequences for women limiting their access to key resources such as land and credit, and affecting household food security and nutrition. Not only are women and girls affected directly, but members of their households and communities are also affected inter- and intra-generationally.
Women and girls are affected through two main channels. One is the limits on their access to education and employment opportunities, which curtails their economic autonomy and weakens their bargaining position within the family. Their weakened bargaining position translates into little or no voice in household decisions, differential feeding and caregiving practices favoring boys and men, food and nutrition insecurity, and lower health and nutrition outcomes.
Second, the discrimination they face not only exposes women to material deprivation, it also makes it more difficult for them to fulfill their vital roles in food production, preparation, processing, distribution, and marketing activities. Challenging the constraints women face must therefore be treated as a key component in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. Such an approach is achievable, it is inexpensive, and it can be highly effective. The cost to society of not acting urgently and more decisively will be considerable.
However, more than good intentions are required to remove the inequities and obstacles facing women and girls. Nor is amendment of legislation that is gender-discriminatory by itself sufficient. Social and cultural norms and the gendered division of roles they impose must be challenged. Empowerment of women is required. This means a greater role for women in decision making at all levels, including the household, local communities, and national parliaments. Women’s empowerment is not only a priority goal in itself but an intrinsic human right, already recognized as
such in pledges and commitments by governments. It is recognized also because it has instrumental value and is a condition for society to benefit from the increased contribution of women to food security and adequate nutrition. Society urgently needs the full potential of women’s contribution, but it can only materialize with wider recognition and acknowledgment—by women and men alike—of its benefits to all society, and the vital importance of reshaping social structures.
This report opens with an overview of the links between gender empowerment and food security, and the importance of the Millennium Development Goals and their follow-up. Global challenges confronting the world in the form of food price increases, economic and financial crises, and the ecological crisis are then reviewed. The relevance of these developments to the gender dimension is then discussed, particularly their impact on women and girls.