1. Office of Overseas Programming & Training Support (OPATS) Dimensions of Food Security Improving Gender Outcomes in Food Security

2. Session Learning Objectives 1.Participants will identify at least five gender-based constraints that can negatively affect food and nutrition security outcomes and identify at least two strategies to address these constraints. 2.Participants will compare and contrast the utility of different gender analysis tools in analyzing different categories of gender-based constraints. 3.Participants will review community case studies and identify least two strategies to potentially overcome gender-based constraints to achieve improved food and nutrition security.

3. Gender and Gender-Based Constraints  Gender: A set of socially constructed roles, responsibilities, behaviors and opportunities. Gender roles and expectations are learned, change over time, and vary within and among cultures.  Gender-based constraints: Restrictions on men’s or women’s access to resources, benefits, or opportunities based on their gender identity, roles, and responsibilities. USAID Handbook: Promoting Gender Equitable Op.portunities in Agricultural Value Chains

4. Types of Gender-Based Constraints Power Laws, legal rights Access to Resources Decision Making Time and Workload Participation Cultural beliefs Knowledge and Education

5. Access to Resources and Assets Men and women have different access to key resources that impact their food security, such as: -Land -Extension services -Paid labor -Credit -Inputs like improved seeds or fertilizers

6. Knowledge, Education, and Literacy  Knowledge: – Fathers, who may control how much protein is available to the family, may lack knowledge of best child feeding practices, affecting household nutrition  Formal Education – Some trainings require a certain education level, which may exclude women  Literacy – Illiteracy impairs ability to take advantage of written extension materials, posted prices, etc. Sixty-seven percent of illiterate adults worldwide are women.

7. Cultural Beliefs and Perceptions  Culturally defined “Men’s Crops” and “Women’s Crops”  Beliefs about gender roles for farm labor, sales, marketing  Affects access to markets and thus to potential income  Household feeding practices define who eats first and what foods are reserved for men and boys

8. Participation, Social Capital  Participation in producer organizations and cooperatives defined by gender, head of household, or land ownership  Women and men have different access to, and voice in, community meetings that make decisions about land use, markets, etc.  Leadership of cooperatives, community organizations, or traditional decision-making bodies  Participation in agriculture extension programs, demonstration farms, Master Farmer programs

9. Laws and Legal Rights  Formal land titles and land rights affected by gender  Rules on access to credit, such as requiring formal collateral or a land title, impact women and men differently

10. Time and Workload  Women frequently bear the “triple burden” of responsibility for work (productive, household, and community)  Lack of time can prevent women (or men in some cases) from taking part in trainings, group meetings, agricultural activities, etc.  Increased work can decrease the time women have to care for/feed their families  Well-intended agricultural projects may have unintended negative consequences – Increase women’s workload, thus reducing breastfeeding or other good child feeding practices – Excessive physical activity in pregnancy increases risk of low birth weight, premature births, reduced lactation

11. Power and Decision-making  Who decides what crops are grown, consumed, or sold?  Who determines child feeding practices (can be grandmothers)?  Who controls income? Does it vary by crop? In many parts of Africa, women control income from subsistence crops, men control income from cash crops

12. Decision Making: Income Control and Nutrition  Women’s empowerment is linked to >50% of reductions in all child stunting from 1970-1995  Women’s discretionary income has greater impact on child nutrition and food security than men’s

13. Addressing Gender-Based Constraints Group Activity  Groups will be given two envelopes: one containing the titles of the six categories of gender-based constraints and another with strategies to address the constraints.  Discuss the strategies and match each one with the category of gender-based constraint the strategy would address.  Participants will also write 1-2 strategies they can think of on the slips of paper and then assign them to the appropriate category.

14. Gender Analysis -Used to understand the sociocultural context; how households are structured, function, and operate; and how they relate to other actors in the agricultural sector -Helps identify gender-based constraints related to agriculture and food security, and opportunities to promote gender equity and women’s empowerment -Helps us answer the three fundamental questions introduced in the initial gender training sessions: – Who does what with what resources? – Who has access to the resources, benefits, and opportunities? – Who controls the resources, benefits, and opportunities?

15. Tools for Gender Analysis  Peace Corps PACA Tools – Community Mapping – Seasonal Calendar – Daily Activity Schedules  Access and Control Profile – A gender analysis tool that is designed to analyze and describe gender relations in a given community