IB Geography F.3.3 Gender Roles Related to Food and Health Notes

Gendered Labour Shapes Food Production and Acquisition

1. Production work: women contribute substantially to farming, livestock care, processing and informal food trade in many low-income rural economies.
2. Unpaid work: collecting water and fuel, preparing meals and caring for children consume time that is often absent from employment statistics.
3. Time poverty: long domestic workloads reduce time for schooling, paid work, farm management, rest and healthcare.
4. Social expectations: tasks assigned to women or men vary between places, so gender roles are produced by institutions and norms rather than biology alone.

Unequal Control of Land and Inputs Can Lower Farm Output

1. Land rights: women are less likely than men to own or hold secure rights over agricultural land in most countries with comparable data.
2. Collateral: insecure ownership restricts the use of land as security for loans, reducing access to machinery, irrigation and improved inputs.
3. Extension services: training and technical advice may target registered landowners or male household heads and therefore bypass women who do much of the farm work.
4. Decision-making: labour responsibility without control of sales income weakens incentives and limits investment in productivity.
5. Causal chain: weaker rights reduce credit and extension access, smaller inputs constrain yields, and low income reinforces dependence.
6. Evaluation: equal legal rights matter only when women can enforce them through inheritance systems, land registration, courts and local norms.

Household Food Access Is Also Gendered

1. Acquisition: women commonly plan meals, obtain water and fuel, shop for food and manage shortages, even when they control little household income.
2. Intra-household distribution: food may be allocated by age, status or earning power, causing women and girls to eat less or eat last in some households.
3. Shock exposure: when prices rise or crops fail, caregivers may reduce their own intake first to protect children.
4. Mobility: safety risks, transport limits and restrictions on movement can reduce access to markets, aid distributions and clinics.
5. Displacement: loss of land, documents and social networks can intensify women’s dependence while increasing exposure to exploitation and violence.

Health Outcomes Reflect Biology and Social Power

1. Maternal health: pregnancy and childbirth create specific health needs, but mortality rises when antenatal care, skilled birth attendance or emergency obstetric care is inaccessible.
2. Spending control: a person who cannot authorize household expenditure may delay treatment even when a clinic is available.
3. Information: lower literacy and weaker contact with public services can reduce knowledge of nutrition, contraception and disease prevention.
4. Occupational exposure: agricultural chemicals, smoke from cooking fuels, water carrying and unpaid care work create different health risks.
5. Data problem: national averages can hide disparities unless indicators are disaggregated by sex, age, income and location.

Gender Inequality Can Continue Between Generations

1. Undernutrition: a malnourished adolescent may enter pregnancy with greater health risks and a higher chance of giving birth to a low-birth-weight infant.
2. Education: time spent collecting water or caring for relatives can reduce girls’ attendance and later income opportunities.
3. Income: women’s control of earnings often changes household spending on food, health and education, although outcomes vary by context.
4. Policy design: programmes should measure who controls an asset or payment rather than assuming that a household-level benefit is shared equally.
5. Aid delivery: separate consultation, safe distribution points, childcare and female health workers can make assistance more accessible.
6. Evaluation: gender-sensitive policy changes the distribution of time, rights and decision-making power rather than adding women to an unchanged system.