Why Are Women More Food Insecure than Men? Exploring Socio-economic Determinants of the Gender Gap and the Role of COVID-19 in the UNECE Region (Food and Agriculture Organization)

Globally and in every region, women are more food insecure than men, and the gender gap has widened during the outbreak of Covid-19. (FAO et al., 2022). This paper first presents the FAOSTAT data on the prevalence of severe and moderate or severe food insecurity based on Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) for women and men and the evolution from 2014 to 2021 in the UNECE region. Then, we investigate on the socio-economic determinants of the gender gap in food insecurity using FIES data collected on 277,551 individuals aged 15 and above from 44 UNECE countries. We differentiate the surveys conducted in 2014-19 and in 2020-21 to share light on the role of COVID-19 pandemic on food security.   While food insecurity has drastically increased for both women and men in Central Asia after the outbreak of the pandemic, North America is the region where the gender gap has widened the most, from 2.5 percentage points in 2019 to 6.1 percentage points in 2021. Our empirical analysis shows that women are more likely than men to be food insecure, particularly in the rural areas of Central Asia, while individuals aged 25-34, regardless of gender have been disproportionally affected during the pandemic.  Finally, by using Coarsen Exact Matching (CEM) and Entropy Balancing (EB) matching techniques, we find that about 55% of the current gap in food insecurity between women and men would be reduced by eliminating gender gaps in education, labour force participation and income. Our results highlight the persistence of gender disparity in food security and offer evidence-based insights to support SDG 2 of ending hunger and achieving food security for all.