Gender and Food Security | BRIDGE Cutting Edge Pack

There is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, but the number of people who do not have enough to eat remains unacceptably high, with disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Reversing this shocking trend must be a top priority for governments and international institutions and responses must treat food insecurity as a gender equality, rights and social justice issue.

The BRIDGE Cutting Edge Overview Report 'Gender and Food Security: Towards Gender-Just Food and Nutrition Security',  makes the case for a new, gender-aware understanding of food security, arguing that partial, apolitical and gender-blind diagnoses of the problem of food and nutrition insecurity is leading to insufficient policy responses and the failure to realise the right to food for all people. Showcasing effective and promising existing strategies, the report suggests that in order to truly achieve food security for all in gender equitable ways, responses need to be rights-based, gender-just and environmentally sustainable. The report is the result of a collaborative and participatory process, involving over 40 experts on food and nutrition security and gender from around the world.

The In Brief provides a concise summary of the main issues within the Overview Report. It argues that tackling gender injustice and truly empowering women is not only a fundamental prerequisite for improving food and nutrition security - it needs to be seen as a goal in its own right. This short brief sets out a preliminary vision for gender-just food and nutrition security, which puts the right to food and gender justice at the centre of all interventions. Two case studies, produced collaboratively with food security actors, provide inspiring examples of gender-transformative interventions in India and among Maya Chorti communities.

Adapted from summary