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Indian women hold the key to food wellbeing

6 November 2018
Alleviating hunger requires input from marginalised groups
Governments need to recognise the status of women in the family and society and give them a role in developing policies aimed at alleviating poverty, according to researchers at the University of Sydney Business School.

In a paper titled 鈥楩amilies and Food: exploring food wellbeing in poverty鈥, the researchers argue food security or ensuring adequate supplies of food isn鈥檛 enough to meet the needs of people living below the poverty line.

Associate Professor 听says that while food security relates to calorie intake, food wellbeing addresses food beyond nutrition, such as 鈥減sychological nourishment or a sense of comfort, love and community鈥.听

鈥湼咔甯@ finds important links between families, food consumption and poverty,鈥 said Dr听Voola. 鈥淲e also found that the everyday activities of choosing, buying and consuming food involve unequal power dynamics that influence family relations and are detrimental to women and girls and hinder poverty alleviation.鈥

Dr听Voola听worked on the project with Dr Archana听Voola听(University of NSW), Dr Jessica Wyllie (University of Newcastle), Dr Jamie Carlson (University of Newcastle) and Dr Srinivas听Sridharan听(Monash University).听

The researchers based their findings on interviews with 25 women, many of them widows, living in absolute poverty in southern India. More than 190 million Indians are estimated to experience hunger every day.

Dr听Voola听said that many of the women interviewed relied on interdependent networks to ensure food availability. In addition to working full-time in the听fields, many of the women were also singularly responsible for food acquisition and preparation.听

Few women had an opportunity to learn about food or its preparation beyond the skills passed down to them by their mothers, to try new foods or new cooking methods or buy labour saving pre-prepared foods such as chilli powder.听

Men in most cases were reluctant to assist their wives and mothers. 鈥淚 ask my son to help with collecting water and he says 鈥榙o it yourself. I am not a girl to bring water鈥,鈥 said one interviewee.听

The paper also talks of the role of food in maintaining kinship structures which can serve to protect vulnerable women. 鈥淲e share meals with our friends and other members of the community,鈥 said an interviewee. "When relatives and guests come to the听house听we feed them happily. It is an honour.鈥澨

For many women, food wellbeing can involve the fulfilment of an emotional need. Dr听Voola听quotes one study participant as saying that 鈥渋f the children are not there to eat with her, her hunger is not satiated鈥.听

鈥淧olicies addressing hunger emphasise meeting physiological needs, however, for a holistic response to hunger, both physiological (food security) and psycho-social needs (food wellbeing) have to be met,鈥 said Dr听Voola.听

鈥淧olicy makers need to intentionally create enabling environments, that recognise mothers鈥 status in families鈥 food decision-making process and allow for them to gain visibility as part of the political and/or economic elite.鈥澨

鈥淧olicy makers need to facilitate contributions to the food policy-making processes from marginalised groups, such as poor women,鈥 Dr听Voola听concluded. This is essential if we are to achieve the UN鈥檚 sustainable development goal of no hunger by 2030.听