Food Insecurity in Europe: A Gender Perspective

Abstract

Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire foods in socially acceptable ways. The study presents a comparison of the principal determinants of individual food insecurity in Europe and other Continents, with particular regard to gender, since the literature clearly states the importance of women in the administration of food in the household. The study of gender related differences in food insecurity is particularly important in Europe, since women experience food insecurity at a larger extent than men, but with a variability related to the geographical distribution and with complex relationships with economic and social drivers. Using a large international sample of individual level data, that allows the analysis for developed Countries for the first time, and the first experiential measure of food insecurity comparable at the global level, the paper analyses the principal determinants of gender differences in food insecurity. In order to verify if women's vulnerability in food insecurity is moderated by specific factors, the modelling approach allows gender to vary by education, poverty, place of residence. The results suggest that the driver that could most mitigate women disadvantage is education: people with a university degree present a lower probability of experiencing food insecurity, both for men and for women. On the contrary, familial characteristics, such as the number of children in the household, present a higher impact on women's food insecurity than on men's.

The Prevalence and Socio-Demographic Correlates of Food Insecurity in Poland

“…Our results also confirm the inverted U-shape relationship between the age of the respondent and the prevalence of FI reported for upper middle-income and high-income countries [ 15 , 19 , 52 ]. In line with previous studies [ 19 , 22 , 53 ], our results confirm the role of education as an extremely important factor against FI. Moreover, it was found that usually unemployed individuals were the most vulnerable to FI.…”

“…However, unlike the above research, our results indicate that singles were not more affected by FI than married respondents. This is in line with results of Grimaccia and Naccarato [ 22 ], showing that in Eastern Europe the difference between these two groups was not significant at 0.05. Considering the observed inverted U-shape relationship between the age of the respondents and FI, our results can be largely explained by the age of respondents, as the average age in the never married group was 27, while in the married respondents group it was 50.…”

“…Our findings confirm the importance of such attributes as: gender, age, educational attainment, economic activity, marital status and income situation. As in other research [ 18 , 22 , 51 ], a higher prevalence of FI among women compared to men was found. Our results also confirm the inverted U-shape relationship between the age of the respondent and the prevalence of FI reported for upper middle-income and high-income countries [ 15 , 19 , 52 ].…”

“…Such differentiation exists in less developed countries [ 19 ]. However, in the upper-middle income and high-income countries, the FI difference between rural areas and towns and cities is often not statistically significant at 0.05 [ 19 , 22 ].…”

“…The FIES also serves as one of two indicators chosen to monitor Target 2.1 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Target 2.1 aims to end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and those in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round, by 2030) [ 16 , 17 ]. The FIES is a relatively new approach in measuring FI, but has been used numerous times for assessing FI in the global context [ 15 , 18 , 19 ] and in selected countries or regions [ 20 , 21 , 22 ].…”