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Gender Inequality and Food Security

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Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics

Synonyms

Agricultural development; Equality; Feminism; Hunger; International development; Right to food

Introduction

Chronic hunger and malnutrition are pervasive issues for large populations across the globe. At last calculation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that 842 million people are not able to meet their daily dietary needs, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries (FAO et al. 2013). The international development community usually measures hunger and undernutrition in terms of food security, which is determined by assessing four indicators related to food and nourishment: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Food security is not achieved until a household can meet all four of these requirements in terms of its food intake.

In recent years, gender has been identified as an integral part of food security interventions for a number of reasons. Women and girls are among the most vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition,...

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References

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Correspondence to Leah Selim M.A., Food Systems .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Selim, L. (2014). Gender Inequality and Food Security. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_488-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_488-1

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