Some aspects of women's empowerment, specifically access to and control over credit, and over income, is correlated with greater dietary diversity and food security.
Gender, household food security, and dietary diversity in western Honduras
(She/Her)
Verified academic
Associate Professor
Faculty of Engineering, Business and Computing
Penn State University
Dr. Larson’s research focuses on international rural development, with work primarily on gender in development, land markets and value-chain analysis.
American
About
Aspects of women’s empowerment can be important for food security and dietary diversity in Western Honduras.
Key Findings
Men and women from the same household reported different levels of food security and dietary diversity.
How to use
Try to implement gender transformative programmes and recognise the importance of intra-household decision-making to achieve development outcomes.
Often assumed that gender norms are so entrenched that we cannot do anything about it, but we found it is possible to change their perceptions, attitudes and behaviours. This can be achieved by farmer-field schools, and other types of workshops, which combine technical training with workshops on gender. The workshops on gender look at gender norms, how they can change over time, leadership, and roles and responsibilities within the household.
Make sure to look at individuals. This includes individuals within households, gender groupings and also intersectionality. It is important to look beyond any one category.
All development programmes should be intentional about incorporating gender. If you having a training programme, make sure women are involved in the planning so that it is at a time and location that women can attend and participate. Do what is needed to facilitate women's participation, e.g. provide child care.
Want to read the full paper? It is available open access
Larson, J. B., Castellanos, P., & Jensen, L. (2019). Gender, household food security, and dietary diversity in western Honduras. Global Food Security, 20, pp.170-179
About this research
Funding was received from Feed the Future – The U.S Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative
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UN Sustainable Development Goals
This research contributes to the following SDGs
About this research
Funding was received from Feed the Future – The U.S Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative
This paper was co-authored
Paige Castellanos
Leif Jensen
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What it means
We found that some aspects of women’s empowerment, specifically access to and control over credit, and over income, is correlated with greater dietary diversity and food security.
It is important to look at different aspects of women’s empowerment, rather than just looking at women’s empowerment as a whole. Using the WEAI Index allowed us to break down women’s empowerment into different components, such as control over income, control over credit, group leadership and control of assets.
Another finding was that it is important to look at individuals within a married household. Men and women from the same household reported different levels of food security and dietary diversity. Women in a dual-headed household are also frequently ignored, however they often have different experiences than their husbands. It is also important to look at women in both single-headed and dual-headed households, because their experiences differ from each other. As a result, you cannot assume that all women are the same, or that all people in married couples are having the same experiences.
Methodology
Conducted household surveys with 953 individuals from 562 households. Typically surveyed both the husband and wife in the same household, if and when they were available. Also included single women households, but did not include single men households. They were all small farmers, with less than 10 manzanas. All from the high poverty region of Western Honduras. Conducted a random sample to get to those households, and oversampled in areas that have horticultural production.
However, this research only showed correlations.
Glossary
Gender
Looking at roles and responsibilities, and household decision-making, of both men and women. Not looking solely at women.
Gender disaggregated data
Important to get data by individuals, rather than by households.
Food Security
Food security does not mean that a person has adequate dietary diversity.
Let your research make a social impact
Jasmyn Spanswick prepared this research following an interview with Dr Janelle Larson.
