Food


Chapter 1 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK Chapter 4: Water


Box 2.1.1: Micronutrients and food security Energy


Food security is about both food quality and quantity. Even if the amount of food available is sufficient, lack of dietary diversity may persist as well as micronutrient deficiency. For example, iron deficiency anaemia is the most frequent nutritional problem in both developing and developed countries, affecting mainly infants, children during early childhood, and pregnant women. Some 2 billion people (over 30% of the world population)


Chapter 2


are anaemic, many due to iron deficiency; in resource-poor areas this problem is frequently exacerbated by infectious diseases (WHO 2016). Over 1 billion women and girls suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. Over 500 million of them are anaemic, millions are stunted, and their growth and development are compromised (Spicer 2015, Darton-Hill et al. 2005). The “homogenization” of agricultural production systems, mainly through intensification coupled with specialization by plant and livestock breeders and the harmonizing effects of globalization (CBD n.d.), leads to the loss of micronutrient-rich traditional crops and of wild foods including leafy vegetables (Bharucha and Pretty 2010). Above all, this affects the poor, especially women and girls who too often have little else to eat (Koningstein 2013; Pingali 2012).


share on food compared to women (UNEP-UNCTAD 2008).


The prevalence and nature of food insecurity vary considerably across types of households. Households headed by women, by youth (female or male), and by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are particularly affected by food insecurity (Boris et al. 2008; Gates, 2014). In the United States, where 14% of all households were identified as “food insecure”, the highest rate of food insecurity (34%) was found in female-headed households; 23% of male-headed households were food insecure (Coleman-Jensen et al. 2014). There is some evidence that LGBT people in the United States, especially those raising children, experience disproportionate levels of food insecurity (defined as not having enough money to feed themselves or their families at some point in the previous year) (Table 2.1.2). In Rwanda, where many orphaned children were left to fend for themselves and their siblings following the conflict in the 1990s, food insecurity among youth- headed households was very high. Almost half (44%) of these households reported eating only one meal per day during the previous week (Boris et al. 2008).


Table 2.1.2: Percent of adults in the United States who experienced food insecurity for themselves or their families (in the previous year), by sexual orientation, 2012


Sexual orientation (self-identified) Percentage LGBT adults


32


LGBT-identified women Non-LGBT women LGBT-identified men Non-LGBT adults


29 34 20 24 18


Source: Gates 2014 Access to work, land, inputs and services


Women and men tend to have different roles and responsibilities in food production. While gender- based patterns are context-specific, global trends indicate that while women play important roles in agriculture, fishing and non-timber forest product activities, they have limited access to or control of land, labour and finance. These inequalities are reinforced by development processes in many countries that are unfavourable to women (e.g. where there is male bias in agricultural extension programmes) (IAASTD 2009).


Agricultural work: In 2015, 43% of those economically active in agriculture globally were women (FAO 2015d). The level of female agricultural employment is generally higher in developing countries than in developed ones. However, in 2010 the agricultural sector in Canada had 52.6% female workers (compared with 25.9% in the United States); the State of Palestine had a very high share of female agricultural workers (72.5%), while seven countries (mainly in West Asia and Africa) had a share greater than 60% (FAO 2011). In countries and cultures where women do most of the farming in rural areas, they are also likely to be responsible for most urban agriculture (Pimbert 2011). In more than 20 countries (including Qatar and Tuvalu) there are reportedly “no women” employed in agriculture (FAO 2011).


Often contributions by women to agriculture are hidden or underestimated in formal statistics. Statistical systems typically focus on formal employment in agricultural sectors and on commercially related agriculture. This bias shrouds the considerable contributions to food security made by women through activities such as subsistence agriculture (Box 2.1.3), collection of wild


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