Gender in Agriculture-Nutrition Research Suneetha Kadiyala Senior-Lecturer in Nutrition Sensitive Development LCIRAH & LSHTM

The basics Gender refers to the social roles and identities associated with what it means to be a man or a woman. Highly context specific Within households: men and women; boys and girls Note: the definition of a “household” is also context specific! Beyond households : Contexts , institutions, policies, laws

Why do we need to consider gender in development? Unitary vs. collective models Women and men live in household with different degrees of seprateness and jointness with implications for ownership and control of resources. Women own and control fewer resources/assets than men Women and men spend their resources differently This matters for household, maternal and child welfare outcomes

Women are key to nutrition Contribution of underlying determinants to Improving Nutrition Globally Sources: Smith and Haddad 2014

Women are key to agriculture & rural enterprise FAO. SOFA 2011

FAO. SOFA 2011

FAO. SOFA 2011

FAO. SOFA 2011

FAO. SOFA 2011

Closing the gender gap in agriculture Increases agriculture output by 2.5-4% Decrease in the number of undernourished by 17-20% Yet pervasive gender discrimination in policies and institutions affecting ownership and control of resources by women Largely considered as an important factor in glacial reductions in undernutrition in South Asia

Conceptual pathways between agriculture and nutrition Agriculture as a source of income Agriculture as a source of food Agricultural policy and food prices Gender dimensions Women’s status and intrahousehold decisions & resource allocation Women’s ability to manage young child care Women’s own nutritional status and intergenerational implications for nutrition Source: Headey, Chiu and Kadiyala (2012); Kadiyala et al (2014)

Household assets and livelihoods Food prices Food consumption Food expenditure Non-food expenditure Nutrient intake Child nutrition outcomes Household assets and livelihoods Health status Mother’s nutrition outcomes Health care expenditure Female employment / resources National nutrition outcomes Income (agricultural and non-agricultural) Caring capacity & practices Female energy expenditure Food production Nutrition knowledge National economic growth Source: Headey, Chiu and Kadiyala (2012); Kadiyala et al (2014)

Household assets and livelihoods Food prices Food consumption Food expenditure Non-food expenditure Nutrient intake Child nutrition outcomes Household assets and livelihoods Health status Mother’s nutrition outcomes Health care expenditure Female employment / resources National nutrition outcomes Income (agricultural and non-agricultural) Caring capacity & practices Female energy expenditure Food production Nutrition knowledge National economic growth Source: Headey, Chiu and Kadiyala (2012); Kadiyala et al (2014)

Contribution of WEAI indicators to women’s disempowerment in Nepal Source: Malapit, Kadiyala et al. JDS (2014)

WEAI and Nutrition outcomes in Nepal Overall women’s empowerment was associated with maternal nutrition Control of income by women was positively associated with child height-for-age Z (HAZ) scores Lower gender parity was associated with children’s diet quality and HAZ Women’s empowerment protective against lower production diversity Diet quality HAZ Source: Malapit, Kadiyala et al. JDS (2014)

A systematic review of women’s time allocation and nutrition Exclusion criteria High income country Language Urban focus Non-human Study type (book reviews etc.) No time use No agriculture or no nutrition Source: Johnston, Stevano et al. (2015)

A mixed methods review Source: Johnston, Stevano et al. (2015)

Key findings (1) Women play a key role in agriculture and this is reflected in their time commitments to these activities, whether as farmers or farmworkers Women are important actors in the uptake and response to agricultural interventions Agricultural interventions tend to increase women’s, men’s and children’s time burdens. Source: Johnston, Stevano et al. (2015)

Agriculture, time use and nutrition: Key findings (2) Indicators of food consumption and nutrition could worsen due to time burdens of women But non-maternal care givers are important Sometimes the income effect dominates Differentiating factors: Seasonality Income and socio-economic status Household composition and household members Nature of our focus on nutrition and food consumption/security No clear-cut nutritional impact Source: Johnston, Stevano et al. (2015)

Strategies employed and policy implications New technologies and services to reduce time burden Incentives to employers to provide meals for farmworkers and their children Joining-up with health interventions for vulnerable members Managed by reducing time for feeding and cooking Focus on the health of women New technologies to reduce the time burden Provision of services that alleviate women’s reproductive burden Managed by extending the working day Provision of technologies and services that alleviate reproductive burden Joining-up with health interventions for most vulnerable members Interventions that target smaller households Managed by devolving tasks to other women and children Increase accessibility and affordability of healthier food Interventions to change purchasing patterns in target groups Managed by substituting purchased food Seasonality Socio-economic status

If there is magic bullet, this is it!! Lancet 2013

Gender in your research: Some overarching questions What are the practical implications of the different roles and status of women and men in the research area for the feasibility of the research and its effective design? How will the research take into account the different roles of women and girls, men and boys? How will the research affect women and men? What is the strategic potential of the research for enhancing the status of women and girls and promoting greater opportunities for them? How can the research contribute, long-term, to the significant involvement of women and their empowerment as leaders? Source: IFPRI, Gender checklist