Rising global food crisis: the perils of African women in conflict areas/La crise alimentaire mondiale croissante: les perils des femmes africaines dans les zones de conflits.

• Author: Matovu, Vero

Rural women produce half of the world's food and 60-80% of the food in developing countries. This is in Line with Millennium Development Goal Number 1--to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (1). However, various factors including: international trade policies, wars, gender inequality, climatic changes, land shortage, high fuel prices, reduced food subsidies/soaring food prices and rapid population growth, have given rise to global food crisis.

Given their gender roles, women and girls generally bear the brunt of the food crisis visa-a-vis their male counterparts. Indeed, they are the most hungry--about 70% of the people who do not have access to enough food are women and girls" (2) Even prior to the current food crisis, it is estimated that 7 out of 10 of the world's hungry were women and girls (ibid). Thus global food crisis has aggravated women's precarious access to food. Indeed, as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) observes, "... while soaring food and fuel prices have rendered millions of men and children hungrier, women are the hungriest and skinniest" (3)

Food crisis applies broadly to all women worldwide but is heightened and precipitated in areas affected by armed conflict; for example, Darfur, Northern Uganda and Somalia. In Northern Uganda fighting between government forces and rebels has lasted for over two decades. Similar conflicts have raged between governments and rebel forces in other African countries. The ensuing instability forced people to live in refugee/ Internally Displaced Populations (IDP) camps where they depend on insufficient food aid. Dictated by global food crisis, aid agencies have cut down the amount of food supplied to people in war-affected areas. This has had devastating impact on women--the food providers, in the home. (4)

As food providers women bear a disproportionate burden of food crisis compared to men. For instance, men in charge of food rationing in camps often take advantage of the inadequate foodstuffs available to demand for sex from women/girls as a precondition for giving them food. This exposes women to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS and creates a habit of prostitution among young girls. Women who attempt to supplement the meagre food rations by establishing food gardens, if far from the vicinity of the camps, gardens become centres of violence and rape for women by rebels or government forces. (5)

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The precarious situation of women visa-a-vis food crisis is further reflected by women in Malawi who, in 2005 were spending up to four nights at the state controlled grain marketing organization Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARK) waiting to buy 25kgs of maize (6).They spent most of their time making trips to buy maize inadequate for most families. They risked attacks as they often left home at around 1am to be in queues. Some girls were forced to drop out of school to help while others were forced into marriages in exchange for food. Sex work became rampant as desperate rural women and girls as young as 15 years were indulging in commercial sex for survival; exposing themselves to HIV infection (7).

Food crisis has had devastating effect on maternal health under African cultures where it is taboo for women to eat certain foods and where women eat last thus consuming smatter and less nutritious amounts. (8) Indeed, men and children eat first, women do not only eat last but eat the least (9). What is the implication of such cultural practices to women living in conflict-affected areas/camps in view of the food crisis? Considering that even under "normal" circumstances some families eat one meal a day, what is the plight of women living in emergencies? In Niger, poor nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women has exacerbated the rate of maternal and infant death as well as illness in regions hard-hit by current food crisis (10). What is the plight of pregnant and lactating mothers in war-affected areas under circumstances where people have to substitute expensive nutritious foods for cheaper but less nutritious ones?

Under-nutrition, famine and hunger are...