WOMEN & FOOD SECURITY - MULTIPLE GENDER VULNERABILITIES
By Amrita Nandy-Joshi
New Delhi (Women's Feature Service) - These are ruthless times. The current
food crisis is an assault on the already difficult lives of the poor in
developing countries. Afghan women are reported to buy leftover food,
otherwise sold as fodder for cows and sheep. Outside the Congress building in
Peru, over 1,000 women staged a symbolic protest against high food prices by
banging empty pots and pans.
A group of Sri Lankan housewives protested the food crisis outside a
newspaper office demanding to know where they could find affordable rice. Women
and children in Mogadishu, Somalia, led a food shortage march that turned
violent when it was joined by thousands of unruly men. The troops opened fire,
killing two and injuring several others.
In all these examples, what is most striking is that the spectre of this
catastrophe looms heaviest over poor women. In fact, it threatens them with
critical and far-reaching ramifications that may shadow them for the rest of
their lives.
It is a cruel paradox that women, despite their intimate relationship with
food, are the worst affected. Millions of women cultivate, harvest, process
and cook; thus leading Sisyphean lives that revolve around food. From the
field to the kitchen and the plate, food has traditionally been an integral
and constant part of women's roles. Statistics have long established that
women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing
countries (Global Employment Trends Model, International Labour Organization,
2006).
This quintessential reality has also been historically captured in literature
and art - the picture of the woman feeding the child or the family is central
to many cultures.
Food has carried a range of cultural meanings for women and their identities.
Yet, why is it that women suffer the most during any kind of food crisis?
Primarily, it is because of poor women's limited access to financial and
agricultural resources. Often, poor women workers even lack control over their
own wages. A food crisis worsens their already vulnerable situation. Besides
shouldering the 'double burden' of a job and household responsibilities, they
may be forced to work longer hours or seek another small job. Working hours in
insecure and unhealthy working conditions of the informal sector, these women
also have no steady wages or social benefits. Yet, this is not the description
of a small group of women. Statistics reveal that poor women outnumber men in
the informal sector: 'The majority - 50 to 90 per cent - of the total female
workforce in developing countries is employed in the informal economy' (Women,
Work and Poverty, UNIFEM; 2005). The immediate upshot for women is
deteriorating health and higher stress levels, thus, further affecting their
physical and financial well-being.
A food crisis also impairs female-headed households, created by the exodus of
males for better wage employment. Estimates by the UN World Food Programme
suggest that in one out of three households around the world, women are the
sole breadwinners. In almost all countries, female-headed households are
located among the poorer strata of society and often have lower income than
male-headed households. Experts fear that the food crisis could lead to an
increase in violence, especially against poor women heading households.
Last, but not the least, women suffer more during a food crisis because of
androcentric traditions and cultures that have always placed women at the
bottom of the family's pecking order. The mother, wife, sister and daughter eat
last - and even least - in many families. Moreover, poor women are already at a
disadvantage when food and nutrients are distributed within a household.
Studies have shown that during lean periods, the calorie intake of the family
is weighed towards its male members. In a culture that privileges the male,
women imbibe this deep-rooted misogynist bias too and feed their sons better
than they do their daughters. This is of particular concern for a country such
as India, which is struggling to improve its statistics on child malnutrition.
According to the 2008 UNICEF State of the World report, malnutrition is more
common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa - one in every three malnourished
children in the world lives in India. In fact, the largest absolute number of
newborn deaths occurs in South Asia, of which India bears the greatest burden -
one million. If the food price crisis continues, or worsens, it may also
adversely affect pregnant women and nursing mothers. A reversal or negative
impact on women and child-related social indicators will slow down India's
progress in achieving its health and nutrition-related targets under the
Millennium Development Goals. Since malnutrition is both a cause and
consequence of poverty, poor women have to be constantly protected from this
vicious cycle.
Women and food security are closely interconnected. Yet, given their social,
economic and cultural subordination, women are most susceptible to any food
crisis. Therefore, the ideal and primary preventive measure needs to strike at
the cultural roots of their marginalised position. Concurrently and more
immediately, short-term initiatives need to be designed and implemented to
bulwark poor women against the food crisis. Crucially, women's key role in food
production and security needs to be recognised and rewarded. It is ironical
that cultures that project woman as a domestic goddess, almost as an embodiment
of food itself, can be so blind when it comes to her own sustenance.
