IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i12p2335-d1008366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Harms to Community Food Security Resulting from Gender-Based Violence

Author

Listed:
  • Uche T. Okpara

    (Livelihoods and Institutions Department, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich Medway Campus, Kent ME4 4TB, UK)

  • Ifeoma Q. Anugwa

    (Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 410001, Nigeria)

Abstract

While the right to food and community self-reliance underpin current knowledge and interpretation of community food security (CFS), the literature on CFS seldom accounts for the ways in which gender-based violence (GBV) disrupts and undermines CFS. In this review, we make the case that GBV in CFS contexts manifests as a continuum, involving different forms of violence that blend into and reinforce each other, fueling social degradation and undermining the capacity of community food system workers to prioritise and pursue CFS. We show that harms to CFS resulting from GBV manifest through (i) GBV-induced social degradation, (ii) erosion of moral and ethical values anchoring CFS, (iii) disruption of crucial food systems sustainability pathways to CFS, (iv) the challenges, behaviours and activities of community food system workers, and (v) the crippling of community-level on-farm and off-farm food value chains, which oftentimes disrupt food access, consumption and utilisation. We further outline that the diversion of CFS funds into GBV prevention services may reduce CFS-related economic outputs and that CFS efforts that are GBV-blind can undermine the agency of community food system workers, pushing them into decisions that undermine CFS. We conclude that there is a dearth of information on how to mainstream GBV-sensitivity into CFS plans, and it is unclear whether GBV-responsive CFS initiatives can enhance the legitimacy of CFS efforts in GBV-exposed settings. We suggest that the spectrum of what is considered “community” in relation to CFS be expanded; and that scholars and practitioners pay attention to the dynamics of GBV, focusing on how GBV occurring at individual and household levels spills over into communities to undermine CFS. Finally, since GBV is not only a human rights violation issue but also a catalyst for social degradation and food insecurity, we encourage refocusing CFS efforts to prioritise early detection and prevention of GBV across specific community-level, on-farm and off-farm food value chains in order to better enhance community ties and foster food security.

Suggested Citation

  • Uche T. Okpara & Ifeoma Q. Anugwa, 2022. "Harms to Community Food Security Resulting from Gender-Based Violence," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2335-:d:1008366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2335/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2335/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lentz, Erin C. & Narayanan, Sudha & De, Anuradha, 2019. "Last and least: Findings on intrahousehold undernutrition from participatory research in South Asia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 316-323.
    2. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia, 2016. "When War Comes Home: The Effect of Combat Service on Domestic Violence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 98(2), pages 209-225, May.
    3. Molly Anderson & John Cook, 1999. "Community food security: Practice in need of theory?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(2), pages 141-150, June.
    4. Caroline Mtaita & Samuel Likindikoki & Maureen McGowan & Rose Mpembeni & Elvis Safary & Albrecht Jahn, 2021. "Knowledge, Experience and Perception of Gender-Based Violence Health Services: A Mixed Methods Study on Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Tanzania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Susie Jacobs & Bénédicte Brahic & Marta Medusa Olaiya, 2015. "Sexual harassment in an east African agribusiness supply chain," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 26(3), pages 393-410, September.
    6. Cheryl O’Brien & Laura Leavens & Cheikh Ndiaye & Djibril Traoré, 2022. "Women’s Empowerment, Income, and Nutrition in a Food Processing Value Chain Development Project in Touba, Senegal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-29, August.
    7. Rasmané Ouedraogo & Mr. David Stenzel, 2021. "The Heavy Economic Toll of Gender-based Violence: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2021/277, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Samantha Dobbie & Kate Schreckenberg & James G Dyke & Marije Schaafsma & Stefano Balbi, 2018. "Agent-Based Modelling to Assess Community Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 21(1), pages 1-9.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brent Hammer & Helen Vallianatos & Candace Nykiforuk & Laura Nieuwendyk, 2015. "Perceptions of healthy eating in four Alberta communities: a photovoice project," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(4), pages 649-662, December.
    2. Barbara Seed & Tim Lang & Martin Caraher & Aleck Ostry, 2013. "Integrating food security into public health and provincial government departments in British Columbia, Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(3), pages 457-470, September.
    3. Giulia La Mattina & Olga N. Shemyakina, 2017. "Domestic Violence and Childhood Exposure to Armed Conflict: Attitudes and Experiences," HiCN Working Papers 255, Households in Conflict Network.
    4. Ackerman, Adam & Porter, Ben & Sullivan, Ryan, 2020. "The effect of combat exposure on veteran homelessness," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    5. Ackerman, Adam, 2022. "The effect of combat exposure on sexually transmitted diseases," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    6. Kibris, Arzu & Arbatli, Eren & Williams, Cole, 2024. "Adjusting to Toxic Husbands : Normalization of Domestic Violence by Women," QAPEC Discussion Papers 25, Quantitative and Analytical Political Economy Research Centre.
    7. O'Brien, Cheryl & Newport, Morgan, 2023. "Prioritizing women's choices, consent, and bodily autonomy: From a continuum of violence to women-centric reproductive care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 333(C).
    8. Sudha Narayanan & Karthikeya Naraparaju & Nicolas Gerber, 2019. "Synergies in social protection : Impacts of India's MGNREGA and public distribution system on the health and nutrition of women and children," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2019-041, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    9. Obodai, Jacob & Bhagwat, Shonil & Mohan, Giles, 2024. "The interface of environment and human wellbeing: Exploring the impacts of gold mining on food security in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    10. Erin Lentz & Elizabeth Bageant & Sudha Narayanan, 2021. "Empowerment and nutrition in Niger: insights from the Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition grid," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(5), pages 1227-1244, October.
    11. Sudha Narayanan & Sharada Srinivasan, 2020. "No country for young women farmers: A situation analysis for India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2020-041, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    12. Hailemariam, Abebe & Sakutukwa, Tutsirai & Yew, Siew Ling, 2021. "The impact of energy poverty on physical violence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    13. Céline Louche & Lotte Staelens & Marijke D’Haese, 2020. "When Workplace Unionism in Global Value Chains Does Not Function Well: Exploring the Impediments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 379-398, March.
    14. Resul Cesur & Joseph J. Sabia & W. David Bradford, 2019. "Did the War on Terror Ignite an Opioid Epidemic?," NBER Working Papers 26264, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Nicholas W. Papageorge & Gwyn C. Pauley & Mardge Cohen & Tracey E. Wilson & Barton H. Hamilton & Robert A. Pollak, 2021. "Health, Human Capital, and Domestic Violence," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(4), pages 997-1030.
    16. Nichols, Carly E., 2021. "Spaces for women: Rethinking behavior change communication in the context of women's groups and nutrition-sensitive agriculture," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    17. King, Christian, 2017. "Informal assistance to urban families and the risk of household food insecurity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 105-113.
    18. Stephanie M. Koning, 2024. "Protracted Chains of Violence: How Chronic Conflict and Displacement Structure Intimate Partner Violence at the Thailand-Myanmar Border," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(2), pages 1-29, April.
    19. Madeleine Fairbairn, 2012. "Framing transformation: the counter-hegemonic potential of food sovereignty in the US context," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(2), pages 217-230, June.
    20. Ratnasiri, Shyama & Bandara, Jayatilleke S. & Korale-Gedara, Pradeepa, 2012. "Changing Incomes and Food Prices: The Implications for Rural and Urban Food Security in Sri Lanka," Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics, Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA), vol. 14, pages 1-16.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2335-:d:1008366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.