This document discusses framing a gender-just approach to food and nutrition security in India. It outlines key dimensions including recognizing women's roles and knowledge as farmers, ensuring equitable access to resources, and addressing gender-based vulnerabilities and time poverty for women. It also notes the central role of social relations and institutions in mediating access, as well as conflicts, disasters, and climate change impacts. Moving forward, it argues for a multi-dimensional rights-based approach that ensures adequate nutritious food, challenges gender inequalities, and transforms unequal relationships and conditions faced by women.

1. Gender-Just Food and Nutrition
Security in India:
Framing the Agenda
Policy Dialogue
IFPRI, New Delhi
August 29th 2016

2. Framing the Debate: Key Dimensions (1)
Beyond access to sufficient, safe and nutritious
food for an active and healthy life (World Food
Summit, FAO, 1996)
Empowerment Approach for Gender-Just Food Security
•A Rights Based Approach to strengthen entitlements
•Organising for Collective action
•Dignity versus patronage

3. Recognition of women as farmers
Central to ensuring sustainability
of agriculture for Livelihoods,
Food Security and Food Stability
• Giving visibility to women’s
knowledge and labour (status
as farmers)
• Equitable access to resources:
Land, credit, inputs and
technology
• Attention to gendered time use

4. Key Dimensions of the Framework (2)
Gendered Vulnerabilities to Food & Nutrition Security
•Differential Needs during life cycle
•Gender Based Violence
•Unpaid care and women’s time poverty, especially
in relation to water, sanitation, child-care and
health care
•Drudgery of women’s work

5. Key Dimensions of the Framework (3)
The Centrality of Social Relations and Institutions in mediating access and
entitlements
• Inequalities and Discrimination (caste, class, gender) across institutions of
the Family, Community, State, Markets
» Women in low-end, low-investment, low-return jobs
» Women earn 70% of male wages
• Gender relations as both cooperative/reciprocal and conflictual
• Inflation in food prices/market volatility
Conflicts, Disaster and Processes of Climate Change
• Survivors as rights-holders
• Coping and Building Resilience

6. Moving towards a Rights Framework
Recognises Gender Inequality: 73rd-74th amendments
Availability: Land rights - HSA(2005), FRA-community rights
Access: Employment and equal wages in MGNREGA
Absorption: Nutrition security, Maternity rights - NFSA
Gaps in Implementation:
Quality of rights: expansion of food basket under NFSA, services under
MGNREGA??
Allocation of resources, gendered institutions, conditionalities.
Justiciability - mechanisms for grievance redressal

7. Policy Implications
Need for a multi-dimensional approach that:
A) Ensures adequate, nutritious food as a right;
B) Challenges and transforms unequal relationships, especially of
gender, by:
a) Recognising women as farmers, and their contributions to both
production and reproduction;
b) Ensuring equitable and decent work conditions;
c) Good quality services and infrastructure to address time poverty;
d) Reducing drudgery through innovative technologies;
e) Ensuring fairness through regulating discriminatory markets;
f) Voice in political decision-making, action to end violence etc..