Women will deliver food security and nutrition for a healthier world – if we only stop blocking their path
Helga Fogstad, Executive Director, PMNCH and Mehr Gul Shah, Technical Consultant, PMNCH
World Food Day on 16 October arrives in the midst of an escalating food crisis, which is forcing millions more people worldwide into hunger and poor nutrition.
The prevalence of under-nourishment jumped by 1.5% points in 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19. Estimates vary, but as many as 161 million additional people faced hunger in 2020 than in 2019. In total, more than 3 billion people – almost 40% of the world’s population – cannot afford a healthy diet.
Women are a vital part of the solution to this crisis. Yet many times they are blocked from making a full contribution, which increasingly leads to hunger and poor nutrition not only for their children, but also for themselves.
Economic slowdown due to the pandemic is currently increasing food insecurity and poor nutrition. Conflicts, climate variability and extreme weather also hit food supplies hard. All these events seem to continue increasing in both frequency and intensity. Regions where food poverty is most prevalent, particularly Asia and Africa, are hit worst. This further widens inequities between regions.
Major stumbling blocks impede women’s contribution
Women make a vital contribution to global food security but are often prevented from doing more, simply because of their gender. In nearly two-thirds of countries, women are more likely than men to report food insecurity, and often eat last and least in countries facing conflict, famine and hunger.
Women still account for less than 15% of agricultural landholders in the world. Furthermore, many studies have found that women earn less and have less control over household finances than men, and so are less able to afford a nutritious diet. They also bear the greatest burden of sourcing nutritious food, enduring long and frequent journeys on foot to markets, particularly in rural areas. Furthermore, evidence suggests that food insecurity is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes, which affect both mothers and their newborns, and with increased pregnancy-related deaths. COVID-19 has only made these problems more acute and prevalent.
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Transformative impact – and the best way forward
Women are perhaps our strongest asset in the struggle to ensure everyone has adequate, affordable, safe, and nutritious food to lead active and healthy lives, as envisaged by Sustainable Development Goal 2.
Globally, women comprise over 37% of the world’s rural agricultural workforce (48% in low-income countries). They also represent at least half of the world’s 600 million small-scale livestock managers and half of the labour force in small-scale fisheries. Women often plant and consume more diverse and nutritious crops than men, thereby enhancing nutrition for their families and communities.
The above is already a major contribution to food security, but it could be even greater. Governments need to enable women by removing gender-specific obstacles and ensuring equal access to ownership of land, credit, markets, agricultural training and education. They should also ensure suitable working conditions and equal treatment for women. When these obstacles are removed, women farmers can make a transformative difference for their families and communities as women invest up to 90% of their earnings back into their households.
Florence Luanda Maheshe, 54, a refugee from armed conflict in DRC, did just this. With the help of a Congolese organization, Dynamique Paysanne Femmes (DPF), she acquired a small piece of land and now supports herself and her six children growing corn and weaving baskets. “Now I can provide two full meals a day for my family, which used to be impossible before. I can even afford to pay school fees for all my children.”
The world is full of women like Florence, who do not need obstacles put before them, but rather a helping hand to get started. After that, they are more than capable of feeding a hungry world. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by 100 - 150 million.
As we strive to build back better from COVID-19, the international community needs to overhaul the agri-food system so that it enables women’s contribution, not blocks it. The new system should work for all women everywhere. Underpinned by equity and by gender-sensitive policies and laws, it should take full account of racial and ethnic disparities.
Against this backdrop, PMNCH has issued a Call to Action that urges governments to enhance gender equality and guarantee food and nutrition security. Amongst other asks, it calls for investment in enhanced data as part of the COVID-19 response and recovery plans to understand the gendered impact and solutions to ongoing problems.
Women are the powerhouse of world food production. They can provide the leadership, ideas and labour needed to put nutritious meals on plates in every part of the world. If we only get out of their way, they will do the rest.