A gender based approach to the right to food

Abstract

The right to food is widely recognized in International Human Rights Law and it is considered one the main parameters for “an adequate standard of living”. Despite this, women correspond to 70% of the world’s hungry, being disproportionately affected by food insecurity. Using a legal methodic approach, one of the causes found for the genderhunger problem relates to the failure of the international system to address it. The existence of a gap in International Human Rights Law when it comes to a concrete universally binding women’s right to food promotes the absence of worldwide gendered policies that address hunger in way that would make a difference for women, globally. Even when laws exist, their implementation might be blocked due to privateness of households in International Law and the food violences that happen inside them, making women eat last, less and more poorly than men. The same happens with property rights, a relevant element of food security. Women’s land rights are protected internationally and nationally, but gender biases and traditional values play a more significant role than the law itself in most of the rural communities where women are disproportionally food insecure, not allowing women to own or use land.