Increasing women’s involvement in the workforce can improve dietary diversity
Co-authored by Nikita Sangwan, Centre for research on the Economics of Climate, Food, Energy and Environment (CECFEE), and Dr Shalander Kumar, ICRISAT
- When women are more involved in the workforce, the dietary diversity of their households improves. The extra time that women use at work does not have adverse effects on their health.
- Women’s paid and unpaid work impacts dietary diversity in different ways: paid work results in financial independence and empowerment in household decision-making that allows women to diversify diets. Unpaid work increases the number of food groups produced by women for consumption by their households.
- Policies and development programs can harness synergies between schemes to improve nutrition and increase women’s employment to pursue global goals of ensuring better food for all.
Greater participation of women in the workforce can increase a household’s income and allow them to purchase a more diverse food basket.
Ordinarily, March marks the peak of a harvesting in Makueni County. But 2023 began on a tough note as the semi-arid region suffered massive crop failure following a prolonged drought. Curiously, Margaret Kimote, a peasant in Kathungu village where the sun burns fiercely, is not worried.
Chemical fertilizers are often portrayed as unsustainable and nonecological components of present agronomical management. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this view, by arguing that mineral fertilizers are actually ecological and sustainable plant nutrition tools that can fully complement organic originating nutrients, found in composts and manures. But, before entering into the arguments, one must take into account that worldwide population is struggling against twin problems of the shortage of fertile soil, and of adequate quality irrigation water.
