Harris-Fry, H., Nur, H., Shankar, B. orcid.org/0000-0001-8102-321X et al. (3 more authors) (2020) The impact of gender equity in agriculture on nutritional status, diets, and household food security : a mixed-methods systematic review. BMJ Global Health, 5 (3). e002173.
Abstract
Introduction Undernutrition rates remain high in rural, low-income settings, where large, gender-based inequities persist. We hypothesised that increasing gender equity in agriculture could improve nutrition.
Methods We conducted a systematic review to assess the associations between gender-based inequities (in income, land, livestock, and workloads) and nutrition, diets and food security outcomes in agricultural contexts of low-income and middle-income countries. Between 9 March and 7 August 2018, we searched 18 databases and 14 journals, and contacted 27 experts. We included quantitative and qualitative literature from agricultural contexts in low-income and middle-income countries, with no date restriction. Outcomes were women’s and children’s anthropometric status, dietary quality and household food security. We conducted meta-analyses using random-effects models.
Results We identified 19 820 records, of which 34 studies (42 809 households) met the inclusion criteria. Most (22/25) quantitative studies had a high risk of bias, and qualitative evidence was of mixed quality. Income, land and livestock equity had heterogeneous associations with household food security and child anthropometric outcomes. Meta-analyses showed women’s share of household income earned (0.32, 95% CI −4.22 to 4.86; six results) and women’s share of land owned (2.72, 95% CI -0.52 to 5.96; three results) did not increase the percentage of household budget spent on food. Higher-quality studies showed more consistently positive associations between income equity and food security. Evidence is limited on other exposure–outcome pairings.
Conclusions We find heterogeneous associations between gender equity and household-level food security. High-quality research is needed to establish the impact of gender equity on nutrition outcomes across contexts.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 May 2020 08:25 |
Last Modified: | 12 May 2020 08:25 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMJ |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-002173 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:160458 |