Figure 1 High Burden Stunting Countries and Gender Inequality Index
— Prevalance Stunting Under 5 (%)
— Gender Inequality Index
160.0
140.0
120.0
100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Afghanistan
Angola
Bangladesh
Benin
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Congo (DRC)
Cote d’Ivoire
Egypt
Ethiopia
Gambia
Ghana
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Kenya
Lao People’s Dem. Rep
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Rwanda
Senegal
South Africa
Sudan
Tajikistan
Tanzania (United Rep.)
Turkey
Uganda
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
0.0
Source: Human Development Report 2011.
relations and social norms that perpetuate discrimination
against females often mean that in countries with high
malnutrition rates, feeding practices for girls are poorer than
those for boys.16
Women and girls17 in complex emergency and post-conflict settings face constraints in accessing food as a result of
insecurity, cultural discrimination, limited mobility, forced
displacement, and, in some cases, misuse of food supplies
by members of military or paramilitary forces.18 Pregnant or
lactating women in conflict settings may also be disproportionately affected by undernutrition due to increased physiological needs and emotional stress.
Strengthening Women’s Ability to Improve
Nutrition
Strengthening women’s power, influence, and decisionmaking roles within the family and community can be an
effective strategy to improve their consumption of nutritious
foods and their health. In many parts of the world, women19
are more likely than men to spend the income they control
on food, health care, and education for their children. Thus,
increasing women’s access to land, ability to make decisions
about land use, and control of physical and financial assets
will not only increase agricultural production, but also
improve child health and nutrition. Empowering women to
promote healthy, diverse diets through the production and
consumption of nutrient-rich crops using local food systems
is critical for ensuring food and nutrition security.20 The
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization21 estimates that if
www.bread.org
women had the same access to
productive resources as men,
they could increase yields on
their farms by 20-30 percent
and reduce the number of
hungry people in the world by
12-17 percent.
Figure 2 (on page 5) describes
some of the challenges women
face because of their lower status
and constrained roles within
households and communities.
For each, there are examples
of potential gender-sensitive
nutrition programs—meaning
programs that consider the
sociocultural factors underlying
sex discrimination and use
specific methods and tools
to improve the opportunities
available to women and girls.
Gender-Sensitive Nutrition Programs
Incorporating gender-sensitive nutrition components
into policies and programs can avoid unintended gender
impacts that undercut the effectiveness of these initiatives.
In addition to providing women and girls with more
opportunities to participate, gender-sensitive nutrition
programs measure the impact of planned activities on
women and men. Efforts to improve women’s nutritional
status will be most effective if conducted in conjunction
with programs that aim to improve the status of women
and reduce gender inequalities. Table 1 on page 4 offers
further details on developing gender-sensitive nutrition
programs.
When planning or evaluating nutrition interventions, it
is important to understand the social and gender dynamics
that could help or hinder their effectiveness. A gender
analysis will help answer questions such as: What are the
demographics of the affected group, disaggregated by sex
and age? What decisions do women and men make that
affect family nutrition? Who makes the decisions about
breastfeeding—whether or not to breastfeed, when to start,
how long to continue? This could be a mother herself, but
might be her mother-in-law or husband.
For programs already under way, what is the “baseline,”
or who is benefiting from the program as currently designed?
For example, many nutrition interventions seek to improve
maternal nutrition by simply providing fortified food and
supplements to local communities. But this is not enough: if
women cannot access these nutritional supplements because
Bread for the World Institute 3