1. GENDER AND FOOD SECURITY
Habiba Hassan Wassef, MD
Nutrition and Health Policy in Development

2. ROAD MAP
• Women of the Arab countries
• Cultural and social factors that influence Gender and Food
Security (FS)
• “Gender” FS and nutrition roles across the Food Chain
• How FS links with its declared objective of ‘growing healthy
and well nourished people’
• How FS concerns figure in strategies addressing nutritional
problems of the 21st century
• Optimizing women’s contribution to FS, health, nutrition
and well being of people.
• Research, and policy implications
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 2

3. Women in the Arab countries
• Human Development Index values for Arab countries span the
whole range from the affluent to the least developed
• Wide variation exist in the women’s demographic, social and
economic indicators between countries and within the same
country .
• Wide variation also exists in access to basic infrastructure and
quality social services
• Commendable progress achieved in past decades, yet progress
lags behind for access to assets, access to the labor market,
political participation, maternal health, and child nutrition.
• Country specific profiles of agrifood production systems and
food security situation differ widely and so does the role of
women’s contribution therein
• Health status and educational levels for women vary widely
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 3

4. The interplay between Islamic teachings and
inherited country specific cultural traditions
• Gender equity in society is promoted by both Islam and
Christianity in the Arab region
• Islam provides for equality in the rights, duties and
responsibilities in financial and economic measures, in
political participation, education, social capital, and in
compensation for harm
• Men do not have privileges over women
• Women are not barred from public responsibilities that gives
them authority over men
• Inherited customs, traditions and social factors can be in
conflict with Islamic teachings
• Inherited traditions may impose a position of inferiority on
women and deprive them of their rights (WHO Regional Consultation, 2004)
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 4

5. Food Chain Continuum
Fork to Farm
Consumers Health and well-
being of consumers
Nutrition
Processing Nutritional value / digestion /
health impacts
Safety Organoleptic impact
Environment
Safe, high-quality foods
Preparation
Storage / transport / retail
Environment
Processing
Production systems:
Agriculture / Fisheries / Aquaculture Habiba Hassan-Wassef 5

6. Women in the Food Chain Continuum
• Food Value Chain (FVC) analysis shows that women are actors and
processors assuming several tasks at different levels and activity
domains of the five areas covered in the FVC.
• The holistic FVC methodology allows identification of women’s
contribution to the Food Chain in areas that may not have been
acknowledged before.
• More updated information is needed on their exact contribution
• Enhancing and supporting women’s inputs can represent important
support to FS nutrition objectives since women are themselves the
strongest link between FS, health and nutrition.
• Given that women traditionally dominate the artisanal food
production scene, FVC methodology helps them to cost their role in
terms of time and effort, and to calculate the market price for the
food produced (European funded research project, Egypt)
• The FVC analysis draws attention to women’s contribution to the
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 6
environmental and food safety aspects of FS

7. Food Security, ‘Growing healthy and well nourished
people’, and the New Nutrition Project
• Changes taking place in the profile of nutritional
disorders, and in the current risks that impact on
the nutritional status across the human life cycle
introduce factors that affect the health/nutrition
status other than food and nutrient deficiencies.
• The New Nutrition Project of 2005 adds an
environmental and a social dimension to the
science of food and nutrition
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 7

8. Habiba Hassan-Wassef 8
Cumulated nutrition related risks throughout life

9. Food Security, ‘Growing healthy and well nourished
people’, and the New Nutrition Project (contd.)
Women have a role to play in the following list that
contributes to the above FS objective:
• Promotion of healthy lifestyles and physical activity;
early childhood nutrition (1000 Days Initiative);
feeding the elderly; coping with disruption of meals
and meal times; correction of faulty food habits; how to
cope with novel foods; the meaning of sustainable
diets; combating the culture of consumerism; the
policy of zero waste; food safety issues and protection
from environmental pollution insults; encouraging
home based food production; turning food heritage
know how to income generation activities; and many
more, are all areas where women can have a role to
play, thus contributing to food security.
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 9

10. Measures to optimize women’s impact on FS,
health, nutrition and well being of people
Some of the measures that have been identified:
• Health of women and their families
• Education of girls and literacy of women
• Strategies that free extra time for women from
household/ family tasks
• Removing barriers to political participation, to entry
into the labor force, and to advancement in public
decision making posts.
• Involving women in FS related technology transfer
and capacity building activities
• Draw on the positive aspects of the local culture
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 10

11. Research and policy implications
• Further develop the FVC analysis methodology to
better serve FS objectives.
• Draw on the wealth of recently produced studies,
reports and recommendations to formulate policies for
enhancing the gender role in FS.
• Analysis of the causal web for the inter-related factors
that have an impact on the FS role of women in the
socio-cultural context of the Arab countries and use
outcomes as a basis for policy/strategy formulation
• Identify the education/training needs for professionals
of the sectors involved in FS activities at all levels so as
to better understand the role and contribution of other
sectors towards realization of shared FS objectives
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 11

12. Research and policy implications (contd.)
• Investigate the existence of conflict of interest between
policies of concerned sectors and Gender promoting
FS/nutrition objectives and propose measures for policy
harmonization and synergy creation among the various
sectors. A good example is the policy on breast feeding
• Identify capacity building needs and measures that can
facilitate the adoption of a trans-sectoral integrated
vision in policy formulation and in the design of
integrated multidisciplinary programmes to support
women’s contributions to FS/nutrition objectives.
• To go beyond “mainstreaming of Gender concerns” and
investigate the institutional reform implications for a
trans-sectoral policy level coordination mechanism with
power of decision on resource allocation based on the
analysis of successful examples.
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 12

13. Women’s multiple and interdependent roles
are viewed as part of an indivisible “whole”
Education Industry
Social Health
Political Agriculture
Economic Environment

14. We need to go from mainstreaming of gender concerns…
Education
Social
Political
Economic
Industry
Health
Agriculture
Environment

15. To programmes capable of addressing
interdependent gender issues in an integrated manner
Education
Social
Political
Economic
Industry
Health
Agriculture
Environment

16. Women, the first providers of food security
• By virtue of their responsibility for the prenatal
nutrition of the fetus, and
• for producing the first food – mother’s milk , and
• for abiding by the recommended 4-6 months of
exclusive breast feeding,
• women provide the cornerstone for a food secure
foundation that will later guarantee optimal growth
and development of the child into a healthy, socially
active and productive adult who has a lower risk of
diet related chronic non-communicable diseases.
Habiba Hassan-Wassef 16

17. THANK YOU