The document discusses the complex relationship between gender, food security, and nutrition, highlighting that multiple forms of malnutrition coexist and are influenced by gender roles and inequalities. It emphasizes the need for women to be empowered in agriculture and health decision-making for better nutritional outcomes for themselves and their children. Recommendations include addressing gender inequalities, involving men in nutrition and health issues, and implementing holistic and sustainable approaches to improve dietary habits and food security.

1. By Brigitte Bagnol
Gender and food and nutrition
security
• Research Associate, Department of Anthropology. University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Research Assistant Professor, Infectious Disease and Global Health
Department, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, USA
• Researcher associated with the International Rural Poultry Centre (IRPC),
KYEEMA Foundation, Australia, www.kyeemafoundation.org
Food Security Forum 2014
Good food, good health: delivering the benefits of food security in Australia and beyond
University of Sydney. 17th March

2. Multiple forms of malnutrition exist and often coexist :
• Low birth weight, wasting, stunting
• Micronutrient deficiencies
• Overweight, obesity
• Diet related non communicable diseases
Underlying causes are multiples and include but not limited to:
• Household food insecurity
• Inadequate diet
• Unhealthy household environment, including safe water
• Inadequate health services

3. Aspects to take into consideration:
Different roles of men and women in relation to food production,
conservation, preparation and human health
Different nutritional needs of men and women during
their life cycle and in relation to nutritional issues
Different nutritional problems faced by men and
women
Gender inequalities are a cause and a
consequence of malnutrition
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3
2
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4. 1- Different roles in relation to food
production, conservation, preparation
and health
Women carry out:
 Most of the agriculture work;
 Most of the food conservation;
 Most of the household food preparation;
 Most of the water and sanitation activities;
 Most of the health care for children, adults and
elderly.

5. 1- Different roles in relation to food
production, conservation, preparation
and health
 Heterogeneity within countries and among
countries in relation to work in agriculture
 Labour burden of rural women exceeds that
of men
 Female labour burden includes higher
proportion of unpaid household work

6. 1- Different roles in relation to food
production, conservation, preparation
and health
Women are at the intersection of agriculture,
health and nutrition
It is a special place but needs to be shared fully
with men

7. 2- Different nutritional needs during
men and women life cycle
 Physiological factors such as menstruation,
pregnancy and lactation necessitate specific
nutritional requirements (e.g. iron).
 Pre-maternal nutrition is critically important:
– Underweight before conception increases the
likelihood of preterm delivery and giving birth to
underweight babies;
– Many birth abnormalities occur during the first
weeks of gestation.

8. 2- Different nutritional needs during
men and women life cycle
 Widespread nutrition deprivation among
women perpetuates an inter-generational
cycle of nutrition deprivation in children.
Women are given the responsibility – but
often not the means (decision, economic,
knowledge, etc.) – to ensure optimal
nutrition for themselves and their children.

9. 3 - Different nutritional problems
faced by men and women
 Women more vulnerable to obesity,
anorexia, bulimia; anemia;
Overall, prevalence of undernutrition rate
are similar between adult men and women,
except for South East Asia were prevalence rate are higher for women and
differences are exceptionally large in some communities*
 Undernutrition, overweight and obesity
might be found in the same community and
the same household
* (Nubé M, Van Den Boom GJ. Gender and adult undernutrition in developing countries. Ann
Hum Biol. 2003 Sep-Oct;30(5):520-37.)

10. Worldwide gender disparities in overweight and obesity
Kanter, Rebecca and Benjamin Caballero. 2012. Global gender disparities in obesity: A
review. Advances in Nutrition, 3:491-498.

11. Population coverage (%) by anemia prevalence surveys
(1993-2005)
De Benoist, Bruno; McLean, Erin; Egli, Ines; Cogswell, Mary. 2008. Worldwide prevalence
of anemia 1993-2005: Who global database on anemia.
WHO region Pregnant women Non pregnant women Men
Africa (46) 65.8 (22) 61.4 (23) 21.9 (11)
America (35) 53.8 (15) 56.2 (13) 34.3 (2)
South East Asia (110 85.6 (8) 85.4 (10) 4.1 (2)
Europe (52) 8.3 (4) 28.0 (12) 14.1 (3)
Eastern Mediterranean
(21)
58.7 (7) 73.5 (11) 27.5 (6)
Western Pacific (27) 90.2 (8) 96.9 (13) 96.2 (10)
Global (192) 69.0 (64) 73.5 (82) 40.2 (34)

12.  Iron and calcium deficiencies contribute
substantially to maternal deaths
 Maternal iron deficiency is associated with
babies with low weight
 Undernutrition (fetal growth restriction,
suboptimum breastfeeding, stunting, wasting,
deficiencies in vitamin A and zinc) cause 45% of
the child deaths
(Black et al. 2013. Lancet)
3 - Different nutritional problems:
Women carry the additional burden of
giving birth and raising malnourished
children

13.  Cultural bias toward certain types of food and
devaluing of local food (often imply reduction of
diversity and proper food)
Adoption of a Western food style and often
devaluing nutritious locally available nutritious food
in favor of culinary preparations ready for
consumption.
3 - Different nutritional problems:
Women carry the additional burden of
preparing food for the household

14.  Chronically malnourished mothers with
limited access to adequate prenatal, delivery,
and postnatal care are at increased risk of
delivering undernourished babies. These, in
turn, are at greater risk of limited growth and
development, to suffer higher rates of
infection, and face a greater probability of
death from infection and undernutrition.
4- Gender inequalities are a cause and
a consequence of malnutrition

15.  Undernutrition negatively influence
intellectual and physical capacities, affects
labour productivity and the ability of the
undernourished to make a living, thus
establishing a poverty and undernutrition
cycle.
4 - Gender inequalities are a cause and
a consequence of malnutrition

16.  A high proportion of adolescents have their first
child at a young age (sub-Saharan Africa is the
highest with 118 births per 1000 girls*);
 Teen pregnancies carry extra health risks to both
the mother and the baby;
 It includes premature birth and low birth weight.
4 - Gender inequalities are a cause and
a consequence of malnutrition: Teen
pregnancy
* (The MDG report, 2013)

17. Women often feed the household before feeding
themselves, saving less expensive, less nutritious and
leftover food for themselves and giving preferences to
boys over daughters.
4 - Gender inequalities are a cause and a
consequence of malnutrition: Beliefs and
practices place women at a disadvantage

18. Mainly wife Wife and husband
jointly
Mainly husband
Tanz. Zambia Tanz. Zambia Tanz. Zambia
Own health care 15.8 31.7 45.0 33.0 38.1 34.0
Table 1: Decision Making Percentage distribution of currently married women by person
who usually takes decisions about health care (Tanzania DHS, 2010; Zambia DHS, 2007)
4 - Gender inequalities are a cause and a
consequence of malnutrition: Beliefs and
practices place women in disadvantage
Women may not have the decision-making authority to take their children to the health
center and to consult the health center for their own health issues (Kishor, 2000; Kritz et
al., 2000).

19. 4 - Gender inequalities
Primary and lower secondary school age children out of school by household wealth and
sex, 63 countries, 2005-2011 (percentage)
(The MDG report, 2013)

20. 4 - Gender
inequalities
(The MDG report, 2013)
Employment-to-
population ratio,
women and men, 2012*
(Percentage)

21. 4 - Gender
inequalities
(The MDG report, 2013)
Proportion of seats held
by women in single or
lower houses of
national parliament,
2000 and 2013
(Percentage)

22. 4 - Gender inequalities
 Women are benefiting only of
5% of extension services.
Women have less access to
inputs such as improved seeds,
fertilizers and equipment as a
result their yield is lower than
those of men.
http://www.fao.org/gender/infographic/en/
 Only 15% of the world’s
extension agents are women.
http://www.fao.org/gender/infographic/en/
 It is considered that only 10%
of the aid goes to women.
http://www.fao.org/gender/infographic/en/
 Women have also less
possibility to have access to
markets (Njuki, 2012).
http://www.fao.org/gender/infographic/en/

23. 4 - Gender inequalities
 Improving women’s access to inputs and services
has the potential to increase women yield to the
same level as those of men implying an
improvement of 2.5/4% of total agricultural
output.
 It could reduce the number of malnourished
people in the world by 100 to 150 million or
12/17%.
(http://www.fao.org/gender/infographic/en/)

24. Recommendation: Reduce gender
inequalities
 Empower women by all means
and reduce gender inequalities
at all levels
 Educate women as they are less
likely to have undernourished
children and as they usually have
their first child at a letter age
than less educated women.
Female employment also has
positive impact on children
nutritional status (Engle, 2000)

25. Recommendation: Empower women
and involve men
 Involve men in household nutritional and
health issues.
 Reducing poverty is important but not
enough to address the nutritional deficiencies.

26. Recommendation: Address the issue
broadly
 Consider not only the 1000 days window, pregnant and
lactating women but also consider men, women and children
nutrition.
Address the issue holistically in terms of sustainable livelihood
and nutrition system (not quick fix, but a multisectoral
approach, including child care, health and water and
sanitation) looking specifically at small farmers and the whole
food chain.

27. Recommendation: Address the issue
broadly
 Improving dietary habits is a societal, not just an
individual problem: Develop nutrition awareness
programmes for consumers and along the food value
chain
Work with food industry and consumers to reduce
salt, saturated fat, trans fat and sugar.
Draw clear recommendations: make proper food the base of your
diet; use oils, fats, salt and sugar in moderation in food preparation; limit the use of
products ready for consumption and, prefer foods instead of culinary preparations
ready for consumption*.
* (Guia alimentar para a população do Brasil, 2014)

28. Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge the support given by:
 The Australian Centre for International Agricultural
Research (ACIAR),
 The Australian Agency for International Development
(AusAID),
 The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO),
 The KYEEMA Foundation,
 The Charles Perkins Centre Food and Nutrition Security
Project Node and,
 The University of Sydney.

29. Thank you for your attention