Gendered Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Behaviors in North Africa: Cases of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia

Tarek Ben Hassen, Hamid El Bilali, Mohammad S. Allahyari, Islam Mohamed Kamel, Hanen Ben Ismail, Hajer Debbabi and Khaled Sassi
Additional contact information
Tarek Ben Hassen: Program of Policy, Planning, and Development, Department of International Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar
Hamid El Bilali: International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-Bari), Via Ceglie 9, 70010 Valenzano (Bari), Italy
Mohammad S. Allahyari: Department of Agricultural Management, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht 41476-54919, Iran
Islam Mohamed Kamel: International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM-Bari), Via Ceglie 9, 70010 Valenzano (Bari), Italy
Hanen Ben Ismail: Department of Agri-Food Industries, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Tunis 1082, Tunisia
Hajer Debbabi: Department of Agri-Food Industries, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Tunis 1082, Tunisia
Khaled Sassi: Department of Agronomy and Plant Biotechnology, National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Tunis 1082, Tunisia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic-related measures in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region have resulted in many lifestyle modifications, including changes in diet and food buying patterns among adults. However, the pandemic has impacted women and men differently and exacerbated existing socio-economic and gender inequalities. Indeed, numerous studies conducted worldwide have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic had a disproportionately negative impact on women compared to males. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze the effects of COVID-19 on women’s food behaviors in three countries of the North Africa sub-region, namely, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. The study was based on an online poll conducted by SurveyMonkey from 15 September to 5 November 2020, with 995 participants. The outcomes of the research found that when compared to men, (1) women tend to consume more food out of fear, anxiety, or boredom; (2) women prefer to eat more unhealthy food; (3) women tend to stockpile a greater amount of food; and (4) women tend to modify their shopping habits more often. The findings should inform gender-sensitive strategies and policies to address the negative impacts of the pandemic and foster transition towards healthier diets and resilient food systems during the recovery period.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; food behavior; food shopping; food consumption; food waste; gender; Egypt; Morocco; Tunisia; North Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2192/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2192/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2192-:d:749924

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().