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BOX 1: Research Findings (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2000)1. Increase in productivity through giving women the same input as menIn sub-Saharan Africa women have less access to education and to labor, fertilizer and other inputs than men.When women obtain the same levels of education, experience, and farm inputs that currently benefit theaverage male farmer, they increase their yields for maize, beans and cowpeas by 22%. In Kenya where theamount of education women receive is extremely low, a year of primary education provided to all womenfarmers would boost maize yields by 24%.2. Increasing women capital as one of the most effective ways to reduce povertyStudies in Egypt and Mozambique have shown that mother’s education is crucial to poverty reduction. InEgypt increasing the education level of mothers from none or less than primary to completion of primaryschool reduces the proportion of the population below the poverty line by 33.7%. Similarly in Mozambique,increasing the number of adult females that have completed primary school in each household by one led toa 23.2% decrease in the proportion of the population living below the poverty line. In both of these studies,female education had a much larger impact on poverty than other factors, including male education.3. Increasing Women’s Assets Raises Investments in Girls’ Education and HealthIFPRI research in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and South Africa indicates that although women bring farfewer assets to marriage, these assets play a significant role in household expenditures to education and children’sclothing. In all four countries, assets in the hands of women increase the share that households spendon education. Even in patriarchal societies where husbands control most of resources, wives and husbands’assets lead to different outcomes in household welfare. Women’s assets increase expenditures on children’sclothing and education to reduce the rate of illness among children.4. Contribution of Women’s Education and Status within the Household to reduction of ChildMalnutritionIFPRI recently examined factors that helped reduce child malnutrition by 15% in developing countries between1970 and 1995. The evidence shows that increases in women’s status accounted for 43% of the totalreduction in child malnutrition the largest contribution. Improvements in women’s status accounted foranother 12 %. Improvements in food availability came second to women’s education, contributing 26% to therate of reduction.ConclusionsAFRICA IS LAGGING behind in tackling food insecuritybecause the continent has failed to acknowledge women’sstrong direct and indirect influences (a) directly in thefood system in terms of food production; processing, preservationand preparation; household nutrition dependenton women’s education, the decision to spend money onfood); (b) indirectly in the spread of HIV, the main developmentchallenge; either in terms of being victims ofGBV, getting infected and infecting others or themselvesbeing forced by poverty to engage in commercial sex work.High vulnerability could induce taking risks to survivewhich increases their likelihood of contracting or passingon the HIV virus.The lack of acknowledgement of women’s contributionto agricultural productivity has resulted in inadequatelyinvesting on them, which is a major constraining factor.Overemphasis on productivity and not giving the requiredattention to post-harvest handling of foods, where predominantlyrural women engage using age-old technologiesthat are taxing on the women, impacting negatively onthe food quality and quantity, as well as natural resources,is another serious problem. Labor-saving technologiesfor improved quality of food processing, packaging andmarketing would have greatly assisted women’s well-beingand increased food availability in quantity and quality.64 Africa’ Social Development Review 2010
Women are also at the centre of the population issue;where in addition to FP practices in which women’s decisionmaking is critical, as well as early marriage andits capacity to increase the size of population. The issueof population growth rate, the denominator in the foodavailability formula, which relies on women’s ability tohave a say in their fertility is something that requires seriousattention. So too, are women’s education and accessto resources, health care and decision making includingtheir rights to delay marriage and utilization of familyplanning. Fuel-wood gathering often cause for concernas a cause for workload, has a dimension of deforestationand environmental degradation, and is a serious issuerequiring attention.In consideration of the factors and issues identified andconclusions reached at, the definition of food security mustincorporate a gender dimension; and women’s empowermentmust be Africa’s agenda for sustainable developmentand food security.FAO Focus. 2010. Women and Food Security, Food andAgriculture OrganizationReferencesFAO. 2003. Gender: Key to Sustainability and food Security,http://www.fao.org.FHI.1998. Male Participation in Reproductive Health,Network: Spring 1998, Vol. 18, No. 3Hareg Consult.2004. Guide to Gender and Education:A Module for Female Primary Schoolteachers, for BasicEducation Strategic Objective (BESO).Haregewoin Cherinet .1991. Food Availability and ConsumptionPattern in Farm and Agro-Industry Workers’Families of Sidamo Agricultural Development Enterprise,Thesis research Addis Ababa.Haregewoin Cherinet .2003. Gender and Food Security,Proceedings of the Food Security Conference on Challengesand Prospects of Food Security in Ethiopia, August2003, UNCC, Addis Ababa-Ethiopia.International Food Policy Research Institute .2000. Womenthe Key to Food SecurityNEPAD .2009. Comprehensive Africa Agricultural DevelopmentProgramme (CAADP), Framework for AfricanFood Security (FAFS), Midrand-South Africa.Shimwaayi Muntemba and Ruvimbo Chimedza. 1995.Women spearhead food security.Taye Assefa Ed. Kifle Lemma Negussie and Joseph Gebre-Hiot.1999. The food security Situation in Ethiopia:Concepts, Status and Trends in Food through sustainableLand Use, Addis Ababa.The International Federation of Red Crescent Five-yearstrategic framework on food security for Africa 2008-2012, (Long-term food security: investing in people andLivelihoods.UN-ECA, 2005. Promoting gender equality and Women’sEmpowerment in Africa: Questioning the Achievementsand Confronting the Challenges Ten Years after Beijing,Addis Ababa-Ethiopia.Haregewoin Cherinet .2004. Modernizing Agriculture andGender, paper presented at the XIV th Annual Conference ofthe Biological Society of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaAfrica’ Social Development Review 201065
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There are several reasons why this
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These goals can only be achieved wh
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Regional Migration PatternsA STUDY
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