Written by Challiss McDonough, Senior Engagement Lead
October is always a busy month for our teams working on food systems, nutrition, and climate. On October 16 every year, we mark World Food Day, which aims to raise awareness of hunger and malnutrition and promote action to end them. The month also features a slew of other international days that raise awareness of challenges that intersect with food systems in critical ways, including the International Day of Rural Women and the International Day of the Girl Child.
Each October, we’re reminded of how connected all of those days are. This year, it’s significant because it’s also the International Year of the Woman Farmer. We can’t focus on fighting hunger and malnutrition without also recognizing how important women and girls are to forging those solutions.
Women and girls are at the heart of our food systems. They’re farmers and food producers who nurture crops and livestock. They’re vital to food processing sectors and food markets, often running small enterprises. At home, women often keep their families well-fed and well-nourished, managing the family food budget and preparing healthy meals.
In many cases, women perform not just one of those roles, but all three of them – and more. And in every one of those roles, they face structural inequalities that constrain their ability to thrive, including unequal access to land rights, inputs, finance, and technology.
That’s why this year, Kinaura Partners is using October to highlight the importance of women’s roles across the food system, and some of the inspiring work our partners are doing to dismantle those structural barriers.
Over the next four weeks, we’ll be sharing stories of organizations working alongside women at each stage of the food system.
We want to follow the food through women’s hands. That’s the idea behind “The Hands That Feed Us,” where we’ll trace the full journey from the seed a woman plants, to the market shop where she buys and sells, to the stove where she feeds her family.
Each week, we’ll look at one part of the food system, and a partner who’s working to remove the barriers women face there. Seed looks at women’s work in production: planting, growing, and harvesting. Shop looks at the markets, trade, and small businesses where women process and sell food. Stove looks at the home, where women turn food into meals for their families, often through unpaid work that goes uncounted. In the final week, we’ll turn to climate change, which is reshaping all three. It damages crops, disrupts markets, and drives up the cost of nutritious food. Women are among the hardest hit at every stage, and they are also leading the response.
We’re looking forward to sharing these stories, and we’d like to hear yours too.
