"The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action set goals for empowering women in developing nations. Over the five years since the Beijing +5 review assessed progress toward these goals, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has generated new studies reaffirming that empowering women is the key to ensuring food and nutrition security in the developing world. This brief brings together IFPRI's most recent research findings on gender and food security and offers proof to policymakers that reducing gender disparities promotes better food and nutrition security for all....IFPRI's research findings provide empirical evidence that empowering women leads to greater household food and nutrition security. Accomplishing this task requires policies that eradicate gender discrimination, proactively promote catch-up for women, and involve women directly in their implementation.." from TextGender issues, Women Social conditions, Empowerment, Household resource allocation, Natural resource management, Gender, Property rights, Health and nutrition,

IFPRI

English

Research Papers in Economics

WOMEN
Still the Key to Food and Nutrition Security
INTERNATIONAL FOOD 
POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
sustainable solutions for ending hunger and povertyPRIMARY FINDINGS
When farmers adopt new agricultural technologies,they directly
experience the effects of agricultural research.Adoption can
depend on whether the technologies make farmers less vulner-
able;whether farmers have the assets to adopt the technologies;
the nature of disseminating institutions;and cultural factors,such
as gender roles.
A recent IFPRI assessment of the impact of vegetable and
fishpond technologies on poverty in rural Bangladesh found that
untargeted technology dissemination was more likely to benefit
men and better-off households.Efforts designed to reach women
within poor households—such as through NGO provision of
training and credit for vegetable improvement—achieved greater
impacts on poverty.Successfully reaching women with these
technologies gave them greater mobility,more control over
resources,and political awareness,and resulted in fewer incidents
of domestic violence.
The NGO vegetable program was successful because
vegetables could be grown on homestead land,allowing even
women from very poor households with no agricultural land to
participate.Because the women had less need to seek employ-
ment outside the homestead,they felt less vulnerable to
harassment.Also,NGOs have been successful in reaching poor
women in Bangladesh,where status issues make it difficult for
these women to access government extension services.
Although women are often seen as less efficient farmers than
men, a review of gender differences in agricultural productivity
found that yield differences actually result from inequalities in
agricultural inputs between male and female farmers. In Sub-
Saharan Africa, for example, women play a key role in food
production and yet they have less access to education, labor, and
fertilizer than men do.Therefore, unequal assets could have a
greater impact on food and nutrition security in this region than
in others.
In Burkina Faso, men have greater access to fertilizer and
to both household and nonhousehold labor for their farm plots.
Reallocating these resources to women could increase
household agricultural output by 10 to 20 percent. In Kenya, if
women farmers are given the same levels of education, experi-
ence, and farm inputs as their male counterparts, they increase
their yields for maize, beans, and cowpeas by 22 percent.
Educating women is a key method for boosting agricultural
productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Simulations using data from
women farmers in Kenya suggest that yields could increase by
25 percent if all women attended primary school.
Rights to property increase women’s status and bargaining
power within the household and community and provide them
with greater incentives to adopt sustainable farming practices
and invest in natural resource management.Yet even where
women are primarily responsible for food production, such as in
T
he 1995 Beijing Platform for Action set goals for 
empowering women in developing nations. Over the five
years since the Beijing +5 review assessed progress toward
these goals, the International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) has generated new studies reaffirming that empowering women
is the key to ensuring food and nutrition security in the developing
world.This brief brings together IFPRI’s most recent research findings on
gender and food security and offers proof to policymakers that reducing
gender disparities promotes better food and nutrition security for all.
1
Targeting women in agricultural technology 
dissemination can have a greater impact on
poverty than targeting men.
2
Equalizing agricultural inputs between
men and women results in significant
gains in agricultural productivity.
3
Gender disparities in property rights
threaten natural resource management.
SOURCES
K. Hallman, D. Lewis, and S. Begum, An Integrated Economic and Social
Analysis to Assess the Impact of Vegetable and Fishpond Technologies on Poverty
in Rural Bangladesh, EPTD Discussion Paper 112 and FCND Discussion
Paper 163, IFPRI, 2003; R. Meinzen-Dick, M.Adato, L. Haddad, and P. Hazell,
Impacts of Agricultural Research on Poverty: Findings of an Integrated Economic
and Social Analysis, EPTD Discussion Paper 111 and FCND Discussion
Paper 164, IFPRI, 2003.
SOURCES
H.Alderman, J. Hoddinott, L. Haddad, and C. Udry,“Gender Differentials in
Farm Productivity: Implications for Household Efficiency and Agricultural
Policy,” in Household Decisions, Gender, and Development:A Synthesis of Recent
Research, ed.A. Quisumbing, IFPRI, 2003;A. Quisumbing,“What Have We
Learned from Research on Intrahousehold Allocation?” in Household
Decisions, Gender, and Development:A Synthesis of Recent Research, ed.A.
Quisumbing, IFPRI, 2003.Sub-Saharan Africa, land is predominantly owned by men and
transferred intergenerationally to males.This means that women
must gain access and user rights to land indirectly, through male
family members.
Insecurity of tenure discourages women from investing time
and resources in sustainable farming practices.This is especially
true of agroforestry technologies because of the delay between
investment and returns.In many regions,the increasing scarcity
of common resources is forcing communities to substitute
privately held resources for publicly held ones.Hill households in
Nepal,for example,have responded to deforestation by using
private instead of public land to produce fuelwood and fodder.
Because women are primarily responsible for household
firewood collection,they bear the greatest cost of forest loss,
but without control of land they cannot plant their own trees.
IFPRI recently explored the relationship between women’s
status—defined as women’s power relative to men’s in their
households, communities and nations—and children’s nutrition
in three developing regions: South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and
Latin America and the Caribbean.The study found that
women’s status significantly affects child nutrition because
women with higher status have better nutritional status them-
selves, are better cared for, and provide higher quality care for
their children.
In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, increases in women’s
status have a strong influence on both the long- and short-term
nutritional status of their children.The study estimates that
equalizing gender status in South Asia would reduce the rate of
underweight children under age three by approximately 12
percentage points, meaning that 13.4 million fewer children
would face malnourishment in this age group alone. If women
and men enjoyed equal status in Sub-Saharan Africa, child malnu-
trition in the region would decrease by nearly 3 percentage
points, reducing the number of malnourished children under age
three by 1.7 million. In Latin America and the Caribbean,
however, women’s status has a positive effect only on children’s
short-term nutritional status and only in households in which
women’s relative decision-making power is very low.
Recent IFPRI evaluations of innovative government projects
found that targeting development projects to women improves
overall household welfare. One such project is PROGRESA, an
antipoverty program in Mexico that provides a health, nutrition,
and education package to poor families and directs monetary
transfers directly to women.PROGRESA benefits resulted in a 14
percent increase in the enrollment of girls in secondary schools
and a 12 percent reduction in illness among both boys and girls.
With increased income, women were more likely to make joint
decisions with their husbands regarding their children’s medical
care and school attendance as well as food expenditures and
home repairs.They also exercised greater control over how the
extra income was spent.Research shows that placing assets in the
hands of women increases household spending on children’s
clothing and education and reduces the rate of illness among girls.
HIV/AIDS heightens vulnerability to food insecurity,and food
insecurity in turn heightens susceptibility to HIV exposure and
infection.This cycle is particularly devastating for women,who
are physiologically,economically,and culturally more at risk of
HIV infection than men and who bear a double burden as both
producers of food and caretakers of the sick.
HIV/AIDS severely threatens agricultural production and food
security because of its impact on all the major classes of assets,
including human, social, and physical capital.The disease is also
undermining natural capital,particularly in the case of women who
may be forced to leave their husband’s village upon his death and
who often have no control over land and other assets used jointly.
In some cultures,“widow inheritance,” in which a woman is
expected to marry the brother of the deceased,is the only way she
can retain rights to her husband’s land. However, such practices
place women at even greater risk of acquiring the disease.
Guaranteeing women’s property and inheritance rights thus
has a two-pronged effect on HIV/AIDS:(1) It can help prevent
the spread of HIV by promoting women's economic security and
empowerment,thereby reducing their vulnerability to domestic
violence,unsafe sex,and other AIDS-related risk factors,and (2)
it can enable women,as the primary caregivers in AIDS-affected
households,to better manage the impacts of the disease.
4
Raising a woman’s status dramatically
improves the health,longevity,and 
productivity of her children.
5
Targeting programs to women benefits the
whole household, but particularly girls.
6
The social and economic status of women is
one of the most important factors affecting
the spread of HIV and the ability of households
and communities to withstand its impacts.
SOURCES
R. Meinzen-Dick,“Women, Land, and Trees,” in 25 Years Young: Reflecting on
Achievements and Planning for the Future.World Agroforestry Centre, forth-
coming; P. Cooke,“Changes in Intrahousehold Labor Allocation to
Environmental Goods Collection:A Case Study from Rural Nepal, 1982
and 1987,” in Household Decisions, Gender, and Development:A Synthesis of
Recent Research, ed.A. Quisumbing, IFPRI, 2003.
SOURCE
L. Smith, U. Ramakrishnan,A. Ndiaye, L. Haddad, and R. Martorell, The
Importance of Women’s Status for Child Nutrition in Developing Countries,
Research Report 131, IFPRI, 2003.
SOURCES
E. Skoufias and B. McClafferty, Is PROGRESA Working?: Summary of the 
Results of an Evaluation by IFPRI, FCND Discussion Paper 118, IFPRI, 2001;
A.Quisumbing and J.Maluccio,Intrahousehold Allocation and Gender Relations:New
Empirical Evidence from Four Developing Countries, FCND Discussion Paper 84,
IFPRI, 2000; K. Hallman, Mother-father resource control, marriage payments, and
girl-boy health in rural Bangladesh, FCND Discussion Paper 93, IFPRI, 2000.
SOURCE
S. Gillespie and S. Kadiyala, HIV/AIDS and Food and Nutrition Security:F r o m
Evidence to Action, Food Policy Review 7, IFPRI, 2005.INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
2033 K Street, NW,Washington, DC 20006-1002 USA
TEL +1-202-862-5600  •  FAX +1-202-467-4439
EMAIL ifpri@cgiar.org  •  WEB www.ifpri.org
It is often argued that women’s land rights tend to decline as
customary land tenure institutions evolve toward individual-
ownership systems. However, recent IFPRI research on the
emergence of gift transfers of land in Ghana’s western region
shows that analyses of women’s property rights must consider
the specific context because these gift transfers have actually
strengthened women’s land rights.
Akan households in Ghana’s western region have tradition-
ally practiced “uterine inheritance,” in which land is transferred
from a deceased man to his brother or nephew, a decision
made by the extended family, or matriclan. Recently however,
land has been transferred from husband to wife, provided that
the wife and children helped the husband establish cocoa fields.
Although daughters still receive fewer transfers of land than
sons, this bias against women is weakening as the adoption of
cocoa farming increases the demand for women’s labor and
hence their bargaining power.These findings suggest that individ-
ualization of tenure gives women in Western Ghana an incentive
to invest in land. In other cases where women’s labor is less
important for cash cropping, individualization might decrease
women’s control over land.Thus, efforts to strengthen women’s
property rights must begin with an understanding of their often-
complex existing rights.
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
IFPRI’s research findings provide empirical evidence that
empowering women leads to greater household food and
nutrition security.Accomplishing this task requires policies that
eradicate gender discrimination, proactively promote catch-up
for women, and involve women directly in their implementa-
tion. IFPRI recommendations include the following:
Legal institutions must be changed to create a level playing field
for men and women and an environment in which women can
realize their full potential. Change is needed in property rights
laws so that women may hold individual or joint title to land, in
inheritance and divorce laws, and in laws pertaining to violence
against women. Of course, legal changes do not automatically
translate into changes on the ground. Effective change requires
that both those who implement the laws and the public are
aware of the changes. Legal literacy campaigns are therefore
needed for both groups, and women need ready access to
administrative and judicial channels.Although legal reforms may
not dramatically change women’s rights if major differences
exist between statutory and customary law, they do provide a
basis for women’s appeals for more substantial rights.With
enough appeals, even social norms and relationships based on
power can change.
Increasing resources in women’s hands makes a powerful contri-
bution to food and nutrition security.As HIV/AIDS threatens to
undermine agricultural production, targeting resources to
women becomes even more critical. For example, directing food
aid to women has the potential to mitigate the impact of AIDS
on food security and reduce the spread of the virus by reducing
high-risk behaviors such as transactional sex, the main income
earner for some desperate women and orphaned children.
Labor burdens in HIV-affected households may be mitigated by
increasing women’s access to labor-saving technologies, such as
lightweight plows and fuel-efficient stoves.
Women need to be empowered to make their own choices
and respond to increasing economic opportunities. Investing in
the human capital women offer is a key to sustainable and
gender-sensitive food policy.This can be done through
education and by removing barriers to the productive use of
women’s time and energy.Women must also be included
alongside men in the design of agricultural and nutrition
programs. One effective way of securing women’s participation
is through networks or group-based programs.These groups
help women access critical support services and strengthen
their social capital so that they can engage in other activities.
Because women are not a homogeneous group, particular
attention must be given to ensuring that all women can partici-
pate effectively in such programs. Involving more women in
development processes may require special outreach and
training for poorer and less educated women and for those
who hesitate to voice their needs in front of men for cultural
reasons.
SOURCE
A. Quisumbing and K. Otsuka, with S. Suyanto, J. B.Aidoo, and E.
Payongayong, Land,Trees, and Women: Evolution of Land Tenure Institutions in
Western Ghana and Sumatra, Research Report 121, IFPRI, 2001.
7
There is no single path to strengthening
women’s property rights.
1
Reform and monitor legal institutions to
eradicate gender discrimination and
improve the status of women.
3
Increase women’s ability to actively partici-
pate in the development process.
2
Target resources to women.
Copyright © 2005 International Food Policy Research Institute.
All rights reserved. Sections of this document may be reproduced
without the express permission of, but with acknowledgment 
to, the International Food Policy Research Institute. Contact 
ifpri-copyright@cgiar.org for further information.
Photo credit page 2 © 2000 IFPRI/ Klaus von Grebmer
Cover illustration: Joan K. Stephens

Women: still the key to food and nutrition security

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Women: still the key to food and nutrition security

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