African women, the global food crisis, climate change and its impact on women and children/Les femmes africaines, la crise alimentaire dans le monde, le changement climatique et son impact sur les femmes et les enfants.

• Author: Phiri, Patrick

Women in poor African countries are bearing the brunt of the current global food crisis. Women, who produce most of the food in most poor African countries, have less access to seeds, fertilizers and extension services. They are also the most hungry; about 70% of the people who do not have access to enough food are women and children. Women form the bulk of the working poor, they toil long hours without reaping enough to enable them to climb out of the dollar--a--day absolute poverty bracket. In most African countries, women widowed by HIV/AIDS are routinely disinherited. In many African countries, women's lower cultural or legal status mean that they do not own the land they till. The global food crisis has inevitably taken a greater toll on women, and consequently the well being of whole community is affected.

Food prices have risen 83 percent since 2005; women and children are the hardest hit in Africa. In Zimbabwe food prices have reached high record levels, and everyone is feeling the pinch. It has exuberated an already desperate situation, with a world record of more than two million percent. Women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable, as they are responsible for providing their families with food. As families cut back on meats, it is women who deprive themselves to ensure that men and children are fed first.

Food prices have soared making even the most basic foods such as rice and corn too expensive for the African women and children. The result? Millions of women and children are enduring extreme hunger or starvation. As is all too often the case in times of crisis, women and children are suffering the most. Policy makers should ensure that women and men are treated equally in the public allocation of land. Eligibility for land reform programs, for example should not discriminate against women's pre-reform claims, whether the women are heads of households or members of households headed by men. When communities have been reflected or when a project allocates land to participating producers, women should have the same right to land as men. It is widely acknowledged that improved women's access, control and ownership of land/ natural and productive resources is a key factor in eradicating hunger and rural poverty. Investing in women is the key to solving the global food crisis.

Of all the world's regions, African women and children are likely to be hardest hit by the impacts of climate change. Climate change is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious threats that humanity may...