Food security: the impact of food prices on women

Marc Wegerif

Oxfam International

Karigirwa

WidowedInsecure landWeather changesFailing crops

Despite this

ProducesSupports her children and orphansworks with other widows some of whom are HIV+Planting trees

The perfect storm

Women caught between:Increasing food pricesClimate Change driven environmental stressesImpact of HIV and Aids (more care giving by women, more new infections among women)Existing and continuing marginalization

The food price problem

Prices of basic food stuffs rose in some cases by over 100% from early 2007 to mid 2008Poor families spend up to 80% of incomes on food so feel the pressure moreIncreased import costs hurt many economiesAt least 119million more people going hungrySmall farmers not benefiting from higher prices as many (70% in Tanzania) are net consumers and the terms of trade have worsened for the farmersDespite recent fuel price decreases food prices, especially in many rural areas, have remained high

Food insecurity is not new for millions around the world, it is structural (as is the oppression of women) and must be dealt with as such

Are we looking in the right places?

Gendered power operates at all levels from household to community to nationalOur analysis of the food crisis must be at all levels and not stop at the household doorTo go beyond generalizations we must understand the impact on women in poverty:In the homeThe farm; andThe market.

Women in the home

Main providers of foodAccess/control of fewer resources and less foodLess decision making powerResponsible for most domestic work Pressure on time fetching, making, cooking and working.Women and girls first to eat less and eat worseGirls first to be pulled out of schoolsIncrease in forced marriages of girlsWomen first to miss proper health careMore of womens time to make rather than buyIncreased psychological stress (e.g. child care)

52% of married women in India suffer from anaemia

Food Crisis Impact

Women on the farm

In Africa women receive only 7% of extension services and 10% of credit to small-scale farmers despite being the majority of small farmers

Majority of workforce in agricultureInsecure tenureLess and worse quality land than menLimited access to credit and extension servicesLess access to storage and transport infrastructureMore vulnerable to corruptionMore time needed to produce sufficient cropsMarginal land gives less optionsVulnerable to increased exploitation as workersWorsening terms of trade for women as small producersWomen not benefiting from interventions

Women in the market

Earn lower wagesOften in informal economy or temporary informal jobsDont get benefits of those formally employedLess power to negotiate in markets when buying and sellingMore vulnerable to corruption Larger proportion of womens smaller incomes going to foodUnable to benefit from increased pricesVulnerable to increased exploitation as workers, traders and consumers

In the Philippines, women make up the majority of those in the informal sector, some 27 million. They have no social security, no protection workers in this sector are eating less and less (Women Thrive Worldwide, 2008)

While women lost out

Big business profited 2007-08

- Nestles sales grew 9%

Tescos profits up by 10% Monsanto 26% increase in revenue Some grain traders and speculators

making massive profits

Drivers of food prices increases

Bio-fuel industry, especially maize for ethanol as in the USA (contributing 30-70% of increases)Climate changes putting pressure on production in some areasGrowing middle classes increasing demand for food (meat) and fuelsUnfair trade regimes, in particular northern subsidies, undermined investment in agriculture in Africa and other developing countries.

All MMM

Climate Change in the mix

Marginal land that women often have access to becoming more unviableIncreasing conflicts that often have a gendered impactDisplacement that always has a disproportionate impact on women and childrenWater and other natural resources that women collect are becoming more scarce; taking a longer time, distance, and risk to findWomen not in decision making on CC responsesHigher vulnerability and mortality of women in disasters (The 1991 floods in Bangladesh killed 140,000 people of which 90% were women)

Women the obvious solution

We all know that investing in women is good for development, good for children, good for communitiesBut we still sadly and amazingly have programmes that are gender blind or at least partially sightedExample fertilizer subsidies

If our goal is to improve economic development, we must invest in women as economic and social agents in the agricultural economy Amrtya Sen

Resolve the Food Crisis By Focusing on Women

Our analysis of the food crisis in every country and region must be gender differentiated, focus on the impact on women, and not stop outside the householdInterventions must be explicitly focused on women ensuring that women benefit and that the worst impacts on women are addressedInvolve, listen and respond to women in poverty during the analysis and design, delivery and monitoring of interventionsBe responsive to the specificities of each context as gender relations manifest and impact in different ways

Specific recommendations

Cash/food vouchers for womenSupport to women small farmers, food vendors, informal workers, pregnant or nursing mothersEarly childhood nutrition and school feeding with specific measures to ensure girls benefit Provide incentives for keeping girls in schoolImprove HIV and Aids care and supportIncrease womens land tenure securityImprove womens access to and control of credit, agricultural inputs, storage facilities, and technologiesListen to women in poverty and strengthen womens organisations and womens leadership in organisations

Feminization of responses

The causes of and responses to this food crisis and climate change - have been beyond the control of womenSuccess will require not just the delivery of better services for women, it is about women being able to assert their rights and gain greater control of their livesEspecially for women to have more control over fundamentals like securing food and the environment for survival today and in the future