Dear colleagues
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Consultation for the development of the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition. I would like to share with you the following points that, in my view could be of relevance and added value if considered in the document.
The financial inclusion of women:
Strengthening levels of financial access and use can act as a major driver for women’s increased participation in the economy in general and food security and nutrition in particular.
Relevant recommendations can be found in the FAO publication: “Deconstructing the gender gap in rural financial institutions”, to improve women access to credits, such as:
· Reform and enforce regulations on asset ownership;
· Foster gender sensitive consumer protection norms;
· Develop the financial infrastructure;
· Bundle the offer of services with financial education;
· Develop the financial education of rural women;
· Implement gender sensitive lending methodologies and collateral requirements.
The relationship between trade policies and gender:
Gender blind trade policies risk exacerbating existing gender inequality.
Many countries conduct trade reforms which has an effect on employment, income, production and prices, none of which are gender neutral. UNCTAD developed a policy brief to assess the multifaceted gender-related consequences of trade policies. The ex-ante impact assessment and other tools can probably be of relevance to the voluntary guidelines.
The indirect gender violence:
The indirect gender violence is built-up through a false consciousness and misperceived social and religious norms that buy into the control system exacerbating the gender inequality. Although sensitive and critical in some cases, dismantling the misperceived social norms and religious concepts should be on the agenda to unleash the potentials of women and reposition women and men based on the human right based approach which reflects in a better positioning of women along the agricultural sector.
The intra household inequality:
There is evidence that intra household inequality seriously affects poverty, food security and nutrition measurements. Measurements are usually done at household level and overlook the per capita consumption affected by gender dynamics. Undernourished people are not only found in poor households. Moreover, inequality in nutrition intakes (calorie and protein intake) does exist between and within households due to intra household gender dynamics. There is also intra household gender inequalities due to marital status (widows and divorcees are sometimes discriminated, inequalities in polygamous households), boys and girls children, first child and last child, etc… (Reference Cait Brown – Central European University).
Livestock and gender
Livestock are an asset that women can more easily own. It is generally easier for women in developing countries to acquire livestock assets, whether through inheritance, markets or collective action processes, than it is for them to purchase land or other physical or financial assets. The use of livestock as collaterals can also be an option for women access to finance.
I hope this is helpful
Thank you and best regards
Marie-Louise
Marie-Louise Hayek