Gender and Poverty: Its Influence on Household Food Security in Africa

Abstract

Gender is considered as the perception of the roles, responsibilities, and capabilities of men and women in society (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2013). Poverty is the lack of resources which impede people from engaging in activities that support a long and healthy life, reproduction, transmission of culture to future generations, social interaction, and access to knowledge and freedom of expression and thoughts (United Nations (UN) 2004). Poverty limits a person's ability to have access to nutritious food and maintain a good standard of living. Food security is when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2010). A household is made up of a person or group of individuals related or unrelated who share resources, expenditure, and activities necessary for the survival of the household and general well-being of its members on a more or less regular basis (Casimir and Tobi 2011) A gender perspective of household food security enhances the conceptualization of poverty as it affects households.