Food Insecurity: Disparity in Gender from an Ecofeminist Perspective
According to unwomen.org, in nearly two thirds of countries, women and other marginalized genders are more likely to experience food insecurity than men. Why is there such a drastic disparity, and how can applying an ecofeminist lens help to better illuminate the issue?
Ecofeminism is neither feminism nor environmentalism, but a combination of both philosophies that allow researchers and academics the ability to approach environmental challenges from a feminist perspective, and feminist issues from an ecological perspective. Ecofeminists believe that the two intertwine; the main connector being the oppression of nature by human domination, and the simultaneous patriarchal domination of women.
Women are more often associated with nature, as nature is seen as feminine. This socially constructed view of women and nature has led to the degradation and domination of both. What does this look like, and how does it apply to the issue of food security?
- Approximately 343 million people globally are hungry right now.
- 60% of those people are women and girls.
- In nearly two thirds of countries, women are more likely than men to report food insecurity.
- 1:3 = the proportion of women with nutrition-related anemia.
– World Food Program USA (wfpusa.org)
According to the Food Research and Action Center, there are over 10 million households with children in the US that are headed by a single female. 26.6% of these families live below the federal poverty line. 14.9% of households with children headed by a single male are living below the federal poverty line.
According to USDA’s most recent report, single-parent, female-headed households are also significantly more likely to be food-insecure than single-parent, male-headed households (31.6 to 21.7 percent).
Current figures for a year’s worth of wage disparities equal approximately 78 weeks of food lost for a woman’s family.
Gender wage gaps, unequal opportunity, lack of access to reproductive healthcare, unpaid caregiving labor, environmental changes, and so much more contribute to the food insecurity disparity among genders.
A quote by Rosemary Radford Ruether from New Woman/New Earth found in the Hobgood-Oster Introduction, says that “Women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination. They must unite the demands of the women’s movement with those of the ecological movement to envision radical reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and the underlying values of this modern industrial society.”
This is as much a feminist issue as it is ecological, and one that would be better analyzed and acted upon using an ecofeminist perspective.
Sources Cited:
Doughten, L. (2023, July 13). Women and girls eat the least and last. Center for Disaster Philanthropy. Retrieved February 5, 2025, from https://disasterphilanthropy.org/blog/women-and-girls-eat-the-least-and-last/
Hobgood-Oster, L. (2002, August 18). Ecofeminism: Historic and international evolution. Southwestern University.
UN Women. (n.d.). SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. UNWomen.org. Retrieved February 5, 2025, from https://eca.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs