Gendering Tribal Food Security: A case from India

Abstract

Gender and food security are interdependent and essential policy components for the "Zero Hunger" goal. In the SDG framework, women’s access to resources, effective participation in household decision-making, income-earning opportunities, and awareness about food and nutritional choices are much more significant than literacy levels and health care.  Moreover, the role of tribal women in ensuring food and nutritional security in low-income households is challenging due to their increasing dependence on public provisions, high levels of child malnutrition, and decreasing reliance on forests. Therefore, every policy aiming at food and nutritional security needs effective gendering at the food production levels and food security public provisions. The present chapter highlights the food security challenges faced by the tribal households in the selected districts of Uttar Pradesh. The chapter adds to the growing literature on the gender dimension of food policy and integrated food systems. The analysis based on the binary logit models reveals the gender aspect of the food security challenge. Households with effective involvement of women in decision-making and income generation, individual spending power, higher formal education, and SHG association have lesser food and nutritional insecurity probabilities.