Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap

Women are more food insecure than men globally and in every region. This paper investigates the global gender gap in food insecurity and its evolution following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) data collected from over 700,000 individuals across 121 countries,...

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Autores principales: Mane, Erdgin, Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni, Cafiero, Carlo, Viviani, Sara, Anriquez, Gustavo
Formato: Ponencia
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137061
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author Mane, Erdgin
Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni
Cafiero, Carlo
Viviani, Sara
Anriquez, Gustavo
author_browse Anriquez, Gustavo
Cafiero, Carlo
Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni
Mane, Erdgin
Viviani, Sara
author_facet Mane, Erdgin
Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni
Cafiero, Carlo
Viviani, Sara
Anriquez, Gustavo
author_sort Mane, Erdgin
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Women are more food insecure than men globally and in every region. This paper investigates the global gender gap in food insecurity and its evolution following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) data collected from over 700,000 individuals across 121 countries, our empirical analysis showed that individuals aged 25– 34, regardless of gender, and women in rural areas had been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Our analysis also confirmed that intersectional inequalities played a crucial role, with individuals in the age groups of 15–24 and 65+ being more food secure, while females aged 25–34 were more food secure than those aged 35–64. The differences by sex, residence, and age were significant even after controlling for income, education, employment, marital status, and household composition, indicating that other unobserved factors, including gender norms and discrimination, continue to hinder women’s food security. The econometric model allowed us to estimate the food security elasticity to income, which we then used to simulate the potential gains in food security if we eliminate the gender gaps in farm productivity and wages in agri-food systems. Finally, using coarsened exact matching (CEM) and entropy balancing (EB) matching techniques, we estimated that at least 57% of the current gap in food insecurity between women and men would be reduced by eliminating gender gaps in education, labor force participation, and income. Our results highlight the persistence of gender disparity in food security and offer evidence-based policy recommendations to support SDG 2.
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spelling CGSpace1370612024-01-05T02:21:25Z Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap Mane, Erdgin Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni Cafiero, Carlo Viviani, Sara Anriquez, Gustavo gender agriculture research gender relations covid-19 Women are more food insecure than men globally and in every region. This paper investigates the global gender gap in food insecurity and its evolution following the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the food insecurity experience scale (FIES) data collected from over 700,000 individuals across 121 countries, our empirical analysis showed that individuals aged 25– 34, regardless of gender, and women in rural areas had been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Our analysis also confirmed that intersectional inequalities played a crucial role, with individuals in the age groups of 15–24 and 65+ being more food secure, while females aged 25–34 were more food secure than those aged 35–64. The differences by sex, residence, and age were significant even after controlling for income, education, employment, marital status, and household composition, indicating that other unobserved factors, including gender norms and discrimination, continue to hinder women’s food security. The econometric model allowed us to estimate the food security elasticity to income, which we then used to simulate the potential gains in food security if we eliminate the gender gaps in farm productivity and wages in agri-food systems. Finally, using coarsened exact matching (CEM) and entropy balancing (EB) matching techniques, we estimated that at least 57% of the current gap in food insecurity between women and men would be reduced by eliminating gender gaps in education, labor force participation, and income. Our results highlight the persistence of gender disparity in food security and offer evidence-based policy recommendations to support SDG 2. 2023-10-12 2024-01-04T12:47:08Z 2024-01-04T12:47:08Z Presentation https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137061 en Open Access application/pdf Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Mane, Erdgin; Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni; Cafiero, Carlo; Viviani, Sara; Anriquez, Gustavo. 2023. Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap. Presentation. Presented at the CGIAR GENDER Conference 'From Research to Impact: Towards just and resilient agri-food systems', New Delhi, India, 9-12 October 2023. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
spellingShingle gender
agriculture
research
gender relations
covid-19
Mane, Erdgin
Giaquinto, Annarita Macchioni
Cafiero, Carlo
Viviani, Sara
Anriquez, Gustavo
Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title_full Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title_fullStr Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title_full_unstemmed Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title_short Why are women more food insecure than men? Exploring socio-economic drivers and the role of COVID-19 in widening the global gender gap
title_sort why are women more food insecure than men exploring socio economic drivers and the role of covid 19 in widening the global gender gap
topic gender
agriculture
research
gender relations
covid-19
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137061
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