Gender, Empowerment and Food Security Status of Households in Nigeria

Waheed Mobolaji Ashagidigbi, Olajumoke Oluwatoyosi Orilua, Kehinde Ademola Olagunju and Abiodun Olusola Omotayo
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Waheed Mobolaji Ashagidigbi: Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure 340110, Nigeria
Olajumoke Oluwatoyosi Orilua: Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 704, Akure 340110, Nigeria
Kehinde Ademola Olagunju: Department of Agri-Food Economics and Trade, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 28, 60-637 Poznan, Poland
Abiodun Olusola Omotayo: Food Security and Focused Area Research Group, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho 2735, North West Province, South Africa

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: Gender inequality in access to productive and economic resources has been a topical issue in sub-Saharan Africa. The restrictive access to resources, assets and decision making by women has been linked to food insecurity. Using a large cross-sectional dataset from the 2018/2019 Living Standard Measurement Survey, this paper examines the interrelationship among gender, empowerment and households’ food security status in Nigeria. The analytical techniques adopted include the empowerment index, dietary diversity score and the Tobit and the ordered probit regression models. The findings suggest that the level of empowerment is generally low in Nigeria (21.63%) but much worse among the female gender (11.78%). The results also show that female gender and rural and North West residents were mostly in the food insecure and disempowered group. The study concludes that empowerment and food policy measures that would enhance access and control of productive and economic resources by the female gender and rural and North West residents should be formulated to ensure the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending hunger and promoting gender equality.

Keywords: gender; economic resources; dietary diversity; nutrition; ordered probit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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