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Women's Environment & Development Organization

WEDO - http://www.wedo.org

From Crisis to Security:
Women Are Key to a Healthy Global Food System

By Nadia Johnson 

The current food crisis reflects a broken global food system that threatens to worsen poverty, hunger, global warming, and human insecurity, with women most significantly impacted. Read the facts:

• There is enough food to feed the world, but over 1 billion people (some 18% of the world's population) suffer from severe hunger, and most of them are women and children
• Small farmers' income and agricultural workers' wages have fallen, but world food prices have jumped on average 83% since 2005, and 17 countries have witnessed violent political protests over high food prices since 2007
• Women grow 60-80% of the food in developing countries, but they own only 1% of the world's land and earn only 10% of the world's income
• Family nutrition often depends upon women's ability to produce food for family and market, but inequities in women's land tenure and ownership persist in many countries
• Food and agriculture systems and land use changes account for some 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions and women farmers suffer most acutely from climate change and disasters, but policies continue to support petroleum-based food systems

Women, especially farmers, often have an intimate understanding of the food crisis. And many women are doubtful of recent government and institutional responses such as 'green revolutions', genetically-modified food, petroleum-based fertilizers and agrofuels. The practices are part of the three decade old agricultural model that many blame for starved communities, feminized poverty, accelerated climate change, dispossessed indigenous peoples and weakened local food sovereignty and security.  

Women must be central actors in calls for a new approach to our food system-from food production to distribution to access-in both rural and urban communities, and government and institutional policies must be reviewed and re-oriented to ensure that the central role of women in food security is addressed.  

WEDO is developing a new project on Women's Economic Rights and Food Security to strengthen collaborative advocacy and capacity-building efforts for better food and agricultural systems. Look out for fact sheets on women and the food crisis, GMO seeds and climate change in coming months. For more information contact

Nadia@wedo.org .

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