• About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Awards
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Membership
Quota Media
Omnibuzz

Food systems news

Monday March 27 2023

Great minds think aloud

  • News
    • All
    • In the news
    • Features
    • Opinion
    eco-labels

    Supermarket food could soon carry eco-labels, says study

    The “Inflation Reduction Act” marks a new chapter for America’s climate policy. Pic: PA

    New US act encourages low-carbon purchases

    Economist chart: Sources: UN Comtrade; UN joint coordination centre; Ukrainian

    Nine cargo ships have left Ukraine

    Smog is so bad in Delhi at times that the government has closed elementary schools. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

    The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment

    carbon-neutral eggs

    Hens fed insects to lay carbon-neutral eggs

    Oleksiy Vadatursky was worth $450m (£369m), according to a 2020 estimate by Forbes

    Ukraine grain tycoon killed in Russian shelling

    General Assembly Meets on Peacebuilding and Human Rights. Photo by UN

    UN right to a healthy environment “is ammunition for campaigners”

    Grain exports

    Ukraine war: Grain exports could restart ‘within days’

    Protests in Nairobi as Maasai activists deliver a petition to the Tanzania High Commission, in Kenya, 17 June 2022. EPA-EFE/Daniel Irungu

    In northern Tanzania, the government is trying to evict thousands of Maasai

    Dr Roberto Mukaro Agüeibaná Borrero uses air quotes: “Indigenous people are being kicked out to ‘protect’ the animals and land”

    Indigenous Peoples side lined at UN, opening the door to land grabs under 30×30

  • Business
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Sections
    • All
    • Retail
    • Data
    • Society
    • Environment
    • Economy
    • Health
    • Food Safety
    • Governance
    • Security
    • Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Rights
    • Tech
    eco-labels

    Supermarket food could soon carry eco-labels, says study

    The “Inflation Reduction Act” marks a new chapter for America’s climate policy. Pic: PA

    New US act encourages low-carbon purchases

    Economist chart: Sources: UN Comtrade; UN joint coordination centre; Ukrainian

    Nine cargo ships have left Ukraine

    Indigenous communities are raising awareness about how the proposed lithium mine at Peehee Mu'huh (Thacker Pass), NV, will impact their ancestral burial grounds, water resources, and wildlife. Photo by Chanda Callao/ @Peopleofredmountain.

    Free, prior and informed consent required as clean energy threatens Indigenous Peoples

    Smog is so bad in Delhi at times that the government has closed elementary schools. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

    The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment

    carbon-neutral eggs

    Hens fed insects to lay carbon-neutral eggs

    Oleksiy Vadatursky was worth $450m (£369m), according to a 2020 estimate by Forbes

    Ukraine grain tycoon killed in Russian shelling

    General Assembly Meets on Peacebuilding and Human Rights. Photo by UN

    UN right to a healthy environment “is ammunition for campaigners”

    Grain exports

    Ukraine war: Grain exports could restart ‘within days’

    Trending Tags

    • Covid-19
    • UK
    • Retail
  • Comms unit
  • Shop
  • Events
  • News
    • All
    • In the news
    • Features
    • Opinion
    eco-labels

    Supermarket food could soon carry eco-labels, says study

    The “Inflation Reduction Act” marks a new chapter for America’s climate policy. Pic: PA

    New US act encourages low-carbon purchases

    Economist chart: Sources: UN Comtrade; UN joint coordination centre; Ukrainian

    Nine cargo ships have left Ukraine

    Smog is so bad in Delhi at times that the government has closed elementary schools. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

    The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment

    carbon-neutral eggs

    Hens fed insects to lay carbon-neutral eggs

    Oleksiy Vadatursky was worth $450m (£369m), according to a 2020 estimate by Forbes

    Ukraine grain tycoon killed in Russian shelling

    General Assembly Meets on Peacebuilding and Human Rights. Photo by UN

    UN right to a healthy environment “is ammunition for campaigners”

    Grain exports

    Ukraine war: Grain exports could restart ‘within days’

    Protests in Nairobi as Maasai activists deliver a petition to the Tanzania High Commission, in Kenya, 17 June 2022. EPA-EFE/Daniel Irungu

    In northern Tanzania, the government is trying to evict thousands of Maasai

    Dr Roberto Mukaro Agüeibaná Borrero uses air quotes: “Indigenous people are being kicked out to ‘protect’ the animals and land”

    Indigenous Peoples side lined at UN, opening the door to land grabs under 30×30

  • Business
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Sections
    • All
    • Retail
    • Data
    • Society
    • Environment
    • Economy
    • Health
    • Food Safety
    • Governance
    • Security
    • Sustainability
    • Agriculture
    • Rights
    • Tech
    eco-labels

    Supermarket food could soon carry eco-labels, says study

    The “Inflation Reduction Act” marks a new chapter for America’s climate policy. Pic: PA

    New US act encourages low-carbon purchases

    Economist chart: Sources: UN Comtrade; UN joint coordination centre; Ukrainian

    Nine cargo ships have left Ukraine

    Indigenous communities are raising awareness about how the proposed lithium mine at Peehee Mu'huh (Thacker Pass), NV, will impact their ancestral burial grounds, water resources, and wildlife. Photo by Chanda Callao/ @Peopleofredmountain.

    Free, prior and informed consent required as clean energy threatens Indigenous Peoples

    Smog is so bad in Delhi at times that the government has closed elementary schools. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

    The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment

    carbon-neutral eggs

    Hens fed insects to lay carbon-neutral eggs

    Oleksiy Vadatursky was worth $450m (£369m), according to a 2020 estimate by Forbes

    Ukraine grain tycoon killed in Russian shelling

    General Assembly Meets on Peacebuilding and Human Rights. Photo by UN

    UN right to a healthy environment “is ammunition for campaigners”

    Grain exports

    Ukraine war: Grain exports could restart ‘within days’

    Trending Tags

    • Covid-19
    • UK
    • Retail
  • Comms unit
  • Shop
  • Events
No Result
View All Result
Quota Media
No Result
View All Result
Home Topics Society

Women represent the leadership needed for a well-nourished world

Despite the barriers they face, women exhibit competence, adaptability, resilience, collaboration and ingenuity

Corinna Hawkes by Corinna Hawkes
October 10, 2020
in Research, Opinion
0
Women leadership

Photo by Jeremy Stenuit on Unsplash

659
SHARES
1.8k
VIEWS
Share on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Facebook

One of the most unsettling things I have read about the impact of Covid-19 – and there are many – is the report published by CARE International last month Left Out and Left Behind: Ignoring Women Will Prevent Us From Solving the Hunger Crisis (August 2020).

It doesn’t hold back. Despite being the backbone of the food system, too many women have lacked access, information, and inputs needed to fight food insecurity and malnutrition during the pandemic. They have struggled disproportionately with food production. Rising food shortages mean they are at even greater risk of gender-based violence and mental health problems.

They have struggled to afford a balanced diet and so often they eat last and least. In some cases they are not even permitted to register for Covid-19 safety net programs. Yet a tiny fraction of international reports on the coronavirus response propose “concrete actions to resolve the gender inequalities crippling food systems.”

The message is clear: deep gender inequities in food have only gotten worse and the international community has not stepped up to address them.

But then, a bit further down, another finding, very striking: “Women and girls are … already leading the charge to meet Covid-19-related challenges. Women leaders at all levels are finding solutions: from planting crops during curfew to keeping markets open, to supporting the poorest people in their communities.”

The implication here is clear, too: despite the structural barriers they face, women still exhibit leadership behaviours. It takes competence, adaptability, resilience, collaboration and ingenuity to solve problems in a crisis.

It’s an implication that also emerged strongly from a webinar I tuned into this week on gender and food environments. Hosted by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Fundación InterAmericana del Corazón (FIC) Argentina, Centro de Estudios de Estado y Sociedad (CEDES) and Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria (IECS) presented their latest study from low-income communities in Buenos Aires confirming, perhaps, what was predictable: women lead the provisioning and preparation of food for their households. They decide what to buy, cook. They take the lead in asking for help when they need it. And importantly – especially given the current crisis – they participate in social networks and work collectively to provide food to their local communities.

This is leadership. Getting things done by building coalitions, motivating collective action with purpose, staying energised and positive when things get tough.

These behaviours have done so much to solve problems during Covid-19. UN Women gave a further example this week (September 14) in their story about the “agile adaptation” shown by a women’s group in Indonesia in distributing food in their local communities. And, I would argue, they are the very behaviours needed to lead the journey towards a well-nourished world.

Tackling the plight of the global diet, malnutrition, and the food systems and inequities that exacerbate them, is a hugely difficult, complex task, full of potential conflict.

Women belong in all places where decisions are being made

It needs both vision and an ability to navigate the many nuances involved. It needs leadership honed through a grounded understanding of the everyday experience of acquiring, preparing, eating, growing and providing food. It needs a leadership that goes beyond fields, homes and communities, and enters too into the political and economic realm.

To paraphrase Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the US Supreme Court judge who passed away on Friday, leadership behaviours so often used by women “belong in all places where decisions are being made.”

This means we need to do more to name those behaviours, nurture them, and elevate them into our own workplaces as well as into the corridors of power.

This is why my colleague Dr Shu Wen Ng and I have started a conversation with a group of women who work in food and nutrition across the world. We are just getting started. But we have already learned much from each other (informing so much of this blog).

By being curious about ways to lead, open about our own strengths and struggles, we hope to sow the seeds of a leadership movement, provide a nurturing space where effective leadership behaviours can thrive, where we can support each other as we make inevitable mistakes, and work strategically to break down the structural barriers out there.

We are convinced that the right type of leadership is lying latent. Learning from the skills and behaviours that have proved effective on the ground, nurturing them upwards, elevating them into decision-making spaces and our own workplaces, will only help us take the right steps forward.

This is not just a women’s agenda, important though that is. It’s a leadership agenda, a call for better decisions about the food we eat through more effective leadership. It’s about generating greater individual and collective awareness about the type of leadership needed for real change. It’s about taking the unsung leadership behaviours that have served communities so well during COVID-19, recognising them, crediting them, and enabling them to thrive.

 This blog first appeared here where readers are encouraged to join the conversation. I’d like to thank Shu Wen and the other colleagues taking the initiative forward. The ideas in this blog would not have been possible without our collective learning. 

Further reading:

  • Study finds over two thirds of food systems leaders are men

  • The furthest behind “in every context will always be women”

  • Women’s Day mini-brief: it’s still a long way to the top

Sign up for Best of Quota
  Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.
1,true,6,Contact Email,2 1,false,1,First Name,2 1,false,1,Last Name,2
Tags: Covid-19WomenInequalityGender
Previous Post

WFP Nobel prize: food security is an instrument of peace

Next Post

REFRESH – EU project reducing food waste

Next Post
EU reducing food waste

REFRESH - EU project reducing food waste

Please login to join discussion

Editor's Picks

Indigenous communities are raising awareness about how the proposed lithium mine at Peehee Mu'huh (Thacker Pass), NV, will impact their ancestral burial grounds, water resources, and wildlife. Photo by Chanda Callao/ @Peopleofredmountain.
Rights

Free, prior and informed consent required as clean energy threatens Indigenous Peoples

by May Davies
August 9, 2022
0
1.1k

A new coalition of Indigenous Peoples is calling for free, prior and informed consent to be negotiated without exception as...

Read more
Smog is so bad in Delhi at times that the government has closed elementary schools. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images

The UN just declared a universal human right to a healthy, sustainable environment

August 6, 2022
1.1k
Protests in Nairobi as Maasai activists deliver a petition to the Tanzania High Commission, in Kenya, 17 June 2022. EPA-EFE/Daniel Irungu

In northern Tanzania, the government is trying to evict thousands of Maasai

July 23, 2022
1.1k
Mikkel Friis-Holm: "It was great to be the dad of real principle." Pic: Robin Skjoldborg

Mikkel Friis-Holm’s Chocolate War – free speech vs boycotts in Copenhagen

July 15, 2022
2.7k
Ecuador’s Indigenous peoples: we are protecting our territories “If we lose territory we lose everything. It’s that simple.” Pic: Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador

Ecuador’s Indigenous Peoples: we are protecting our territories

July 1, 2022
1.2k
Twitter Youtube LinkedIn
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • Shop
  • Classifieds
  • Events
  • Login

Popular Tags

Covid-19 United States United Kingdom United Nations Brexit 2021 Food Systems Summit European Union China Food and Agriculture Organization UK World Food Programme Nestle Climate Change COP26 Food banks Meat Farmers Slavery

Best of Quota

Our audience's free secret weapon, leaving others to ask, "What do they know, that I don't?"


Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.
1,true,6,Contact Email,21,false,1,First Name,21,false,1,Last Name,2

© 2021 Quota Media Limited | All rights reserved | Registered Company Number 12581018      Online Web Fonts

Terms & Conditions      Privacy Policy      Ethical Policy      Cookie Policy     

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Comms unit
  • Shop
  • Events
  • Membership subs
  • Awards
  • Contact
  • About

© 2021 Quota Media Limited | All rights reserved | Registered Company Number 12581018      Online Web Fonts

Terms & Conditions      Privacy Policy      Ethical Policy      Cookie Policy     

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In