Gender dimensions of Food Security and Nutrition
Joyce Kanyangwa Luma
DIHAD Conference, Dubai UAE
26 March 2014

Background
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Women play an important role in reducing hunger and malnutrition.
They are first and foremost the primary caretakers of the family and they have an important role in providing for the family through their labor. Women contribute to hunger and malnutrition through gainful employment as well as unpaid work.
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At the global level, governments have committed to reduce hunger and malnutrition. They have also committed to address inequality in all its forms. These commitments are annually tracked as Millennium
Development Goals (MDG) – with specific targets to be reached in 2015.
The first goal is about reducing poverty and hunger – countries committed to reduce hunger by 50 percent in 2015 (compared to the base year in 2000.)
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Every year, a state of food insecurity report is issued by the UN Food based agencies report to give the progress towards hunger reduction – this report highlights successes as well as some of the challenges in the fight to reduce the number of hungry. Globally, the most recent estimates show that 842 million people are unable to meet their dietary energy intake - reflecting one in eight people. The majority of these people live in developing countries. These global statistics are a reminder of what needs to be done to reduce hunger and malnutrition.
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However, the global statistics do not provide gender breakdowns. This makes it difficult to discuss progress by gender and how nations are doing to reduce gender disparities from a food security perspective.
Numerous studies show a strong association between food insecurity, malnutrition and gender. Many more studies also show that during crises women and children are disproportionately affected
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This presentation will attempt to show patterns of gender dimensions of food insecurity. It is based on data from several countries where WFP operates. Because most of the data are collected at the households, most of the analysis compares female headed households and male headed households. Even with such comparison, gender issues are not fully understood. More data at the individual level would help to

understand the partners in depth. However, data collected at individual level are costly to collect. Hence, for this presentation, we will make inference to the situation of women based on gender disaggregated data of heads of households.
Gender headship and patterns of food insecurity
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Numerous studies show high levels of food insecurity among female headed households. Patterns and depth of food insecurity levels among these households by vary region and socio-economic status. Data from household surveys conducted in southern Africa in Lesotho, Malawi,
Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe following a regional drought in 2002/3 show significant differences in food insecurity levels between male and female headed households, with female headed households overall showing high levels of food insecurity. For example in Zambia data collection between food insecurity in female headed households was 10 percent higher than levels male headed households.
In Malawi, the gender ratio in the most vulnerable quintile, or the bottom 20% was higher for females than males – there were 146 vulnerable females to every 100 vulnerable males. In Zimbabwe, female headed households made up 44% of the poorest households (compared to 30% of the total population) and only 18% of the wealthier households. In Swaziland, on average female headed households had a deficit in cereal production compared to on-average a surplus for male headed household?
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Why are women disproportionately food insecure? Available gender disaggregated data show that women have limited access to resources
(land, credit, extensions) social networks and information, etc. Social norms and sometime laws have made it difficult for women to have equal access to services and assets. Their limited education makes it difficult for them to compete for employment opportunities. They are often are in unpaid family labor and when there are engaged in gainful employment, they earn significantly lower wages than when in agricultural or non-agricultural activities. For example data from India show that women were earning 57% less than wages of men for casual work and almost 80% wages for regular work.

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Women are disproportionately represented in agriculture, selfemployment and the informal sector. Agricultural and non-agricultural activities in rural areas tend to be seasonal and therefore their income flows tends to be irregular. The fact that they rely on incomes that are not stable, they are vulnerable even to disasters or shocks even when they are small. Data from several countries show that households with a regular salary (or pension) have a lower probability of being food severely food insecurity compared to incomes from the informal sector.
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Furthermore natural disasters impact the agricultural and informal sector more severely – women primarily work in these sectors. When these sectors are hit women’s incomes are severely affected.
Coping Strategies
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Because female headed households have limited access to assets, social networks and resources, their ability to prepare and respond to disasters is limited. They engage in distressful coping strategies; strategies that are likely to have adverse and sometimes irreversible impacts on their households and children. Data from 2002-6 in Southern Africa and
Armenia as well as data from several countries during the food, fuel and financial crisis of 2007-8 showed that significantly high proportion of female headed households and women in general having little coping capacity households have shown similar pattern. For example:
Coping Strategies
Female headed households
Female-headed households attempt to compensate their loss of income or crop production for their losses through
 the reduction of food consumption; reducing the number of meals;, switching to cheaper foods and sometimes even skipping days without eating – these directly impact nutritional status..
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They also rely more on gathering wild foods including consumption of unusual foods than male-headed households
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They may increase their labour to
Male headed Households
They also engage in consumption production
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 reduction but not to the same extent as female headed house holds. Maleheaded households look
for alternative income sources to offset their losses in crop
Sales of livestock and assets.
Men seek wage employment

headed households in Bangladesh sought wage employment - these were women who lost the remittance due loss of employment among those that out-migrated.
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A higher proportion of children seek employment – a concern for children dropping out of school.
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While these gender inequalities appear to exist everywhere, patterns of inequality for food insecurity and nutrition dimensions vary by region and socioeconomic status. It would have been far too easy if we were able to say all women or female headed households are food insecure. I would have been classified as insecure as I stand. Hence, it is important to analyze these disparities beyond the aggregated numbers to enable more tailored and effective response.
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For example, data collected by WFP in Laos, Madagascar, Cameroon,
Mauritania and Tanzania while supporting the hypothesis that female headed households are disproportionally food insecure, analysis showed that the patterns and depth of food insecurity varied by country. While
Cameroon and Madagascar showed disproportionately higher levels of food insecurity among female headship, the pattern was less clear in other three countries.
 purchase food at the expense of child care. During the financial crisis, more women from female including outmigrating for labour
Data collected between 2005 and 2010 in Nepal and Bangladesh shows at the aggregate level no significant differences in food consumption pattern between male and female headed households. There were also no significant differences in levels of consumption of various food items such dairy, fruits vegetables, pulse, meat, eggs and fish. Male headed households derived about 74 percent of calories from grains while female headed households had 75 percent. Similar patterns were observed in Nepal. Our hypothesis is that remittances into the households of female headed households may be making a difference.
In Bangladesh, remittances from the migrant workers contribute to about 11 percent of the total GDP (2012) and in Nepal about 23 percent.
It is estimated that about 5.4 million Bangladesh, equivalent to 3.3

percent of the population had out-migrated (World Bank 2010). The majority of the migrants are men. Their remittances are significant and have enabled many female headed households to increased incomes, greater spending on higher consumption, better access to education and health services, improved housing and living conditions, and use of resources in productive activities.
 Furthermore, for both Nepal and Bangladesh, when the data are further disaggregated, divorced and widowed female headed households have relatively low food consumption when compared to the average female headed households. So not all female headed household had as good consumption as male headed households – these are mostly households that do not have remittances.
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In Armenia, another country with high outmigration, female headed households that were receiving remittances and/or had a member of the family working were significantly better off than female headed households without remittances.
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However, remittances outflows are prone to economic crises as we saw in 2007/8. During the economic recessions, a large number of migrants lost employment and female headed households in these countries were the most affected. The loss of income resulted in women resorting to negative coping strategies.
Education and Socioeconomic Status
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Data from Southern Africa shows varying patterns in food insecurity levels between female and male headed households when they were compared within their social-economic and education groups. In the
Zambia case study for example, while there was overall significant differences between male and female households, these difference were not significant when you controlled for socio-economic status – ie female headed households in lower socio-economic groups were worse off than male headed households from the same strata.
However, this was not the case for the high socio-economic groups, the food security status of female headed households were not different from that of male headed households of similar high socio-economic status.

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Furthermore, female headed households with a high education attainment were significantly less likely to be severely food insecure than those with low education attainment in both urban and rural areas
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Data reviewed from Armenia, Yemen and southern Africa show maleheaded households had significantly taller children than female headed households. In addition, female-headed households had significantly severely stunted children
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When these data are controlled for education and socio-economic status, children from female headed households with high education attainment and higher socio-economic status have least levels of stunted children and are not significantly different from male headed households.
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While overall improvement in nutritional status is associated to increased education and socio-economic attainment, data on time use of women have also shown that increased labor time for women, especially when they have young children is negatively associated with nutrition status. This is irrespective to increased incomes earned or improved food security situation. The Zambia case study shows child care related issues are compromised with increased labor – thus higher malnutrition for children in female headed households with higher labor time.
Conclusion
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Overall, there is overwhelmingly evidence that female headed households are disproportionately food insecure. However the patterns vary by region and socio-economic groups. Therefore it is important to understand which populations, even among women, are most vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition to enable design programmes that are responsive to the socio-economic context.
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The data demonstrate the value in investing in girl’s education and the need to ensure equal access social services. When girls have access to

education and are given access to economic opportunities they are able to break the intergeneration cycle of hunger and poverty.
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As households are diversifying their sources of income, more women will be increasing their participation in economic activities and working outside the home. Creating inclusive economic opportunities as well as the provision social services that include safe and affordable child care services are critical to ensuring food insecurity reduction and while safeguarding child nutrition.
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Programmes that enhance the female child education should be encouraged and new ones introduced to reduce the vulnerability of female household to chronic malnutrition. To support such efforts, for example WFP new strategic plan fourth strategic objective is to reduce inter-generation cycle of hunger. One of the activities within this strategic objective is that WFP works closely with other UN agencies such as UNICEF, FAO and NGOs to support Government to increase girls education. Within this objective goal is ensure that girls stay longer in school and as shown by data review – increased girls education is a key factor in hunger and malnutrition reduction. WFP provides an incentive to food insecure households to enable girls stay in school. In countries where boys are taken out to heard cattle incentives are provided to rural households to keep boy child in school.
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