Gender inclusive food systems for sustainable healthy diets in low and middle-income countries

ABSTRACT

Around the world, women along with men are key actors in every aspect of food systems, as farmers, processors, wageworkers, traders, and consumers. Despite their significant role, the evidence shows that women are not only structurally disadvantaged in the food system, but also their contributions are often undervalued. Unraveling the gender dynamics in food systems is necessary to address gender inequalities and develop efficient, inclusive, and resilient food systems. Some positive actions toward inclusion are being integrated, however, more efforts are needed. To achieve sustainable food systems, gender equity, and women’s empowerment are needed across different nodes of the food systems. Men and women have different experiences and different strategies throughout the food system. Therefore, understanding such gender differences could facilitate the development of gender-sensitive policies and programs that could help achieve sustainable, nutrition-sensitive, and inclusive food systems. We have used the most recent food systems framework developed by the High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) and examined the perspective on how gender dynamics shape men’s and women’s participation in food systems and to identify the entry points for improved gender equity and inclusion to attain sustainable food systems for healthy diets in low and middle-income countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• food systems
• sustainable healthy diets

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) is a group of experts appointed by the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) to provide evidence-based analysis and policy recommendations on food security and nutrition issues. The HLPE (2014 (HLPE 2017), developed a food systems framework to guide policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders to assess food systems and design policies and interventions that can lead to sustainable and equitable food systems. The HLPE food systems framework is based on four dimensions: food systems’ adequacy and diversity, food systems’ sustainability, food systems’ resilience, and food systems’ inclusiveness. These dimensions reflect the multi-faceted nature of food systems and highlight the need for a holistic and integrated approach to food system transformation. The adequacy and diversity dimension focuses on ensuring that food systems provide sufficient and diverse food to meet the nutritional needs of all people. The sustainability dimension emphasizes the need to produce food in a way that is environmentally sustainable, while the resilience dimension highlights the importance of food systems to be able to withstand and recover from shocks and stresses. The inclusiveness dimension recognizes that food systems must be inclusive of all stakeholders and address social inequalities, including gender inequality.

2. It is important to acknowledge the limitations and potential problems associated with generalizing the experiences of women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) based on a narrow range of scientific literature. There is great diversity among women in LMICs, and their experiences are shaped by a range of factors including culture, socioeconomic status, geography, and history. Therefore, drawing conclusions based on a limited body of literature may lead to oversimplifications and misrepresentations of the complex realities faced by women in these regions.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the CGIAR Gender Platform [C-2022-194].