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Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women's burden when shortages bite

JOHANNESBURG, 23 May (IRIN) - "Women's work" like fetching food, tending
crops, searching for firewood and carrying water is considered "invisible
work" according to recent studies.

As millions of Southern Africans face smaller larders this year, the
region's women face the daunting task of carrying out these duties with
dwindling energy reserves and at the same time trying to keep their bodies
going.

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) study of women in developing
countries noted that malnutrition did not affect all
members of a household equally, with men and boys often getting served first
and getting more food.

"Seasonal shortfall in food availability tends to affect women
disproportionately since their already inadequate intake will be curtailed
drastically," the report said. "Even when more food is available, it tends
to be preferentially allocated to men, thus preventing women from
accumulating any reserves. If seasonal shortfall coincides with pregnancy or
lactation, the implications for women and infants are particularly harsh."

In Africa the traditional division of agricultural labour assigns women
specific tasks, but their work is mostly considered "invisible", the report
said. These tasks include fetching water and cooking, walking to the fields
for planting, weeding and harvesting. They also brew beer for special
occasions and carry goods to the market. While technological changes have
made crop cultivation easier, the expansion of areas under cultivation sees
women walking further to get to the fields or to collect firewood from
bordering forests.

Social changes have left women taking on extra tasks while men migrate to
cities and towns for work. But men are reluctant to take on additional
"women's work".

While women's productivity determines how much food is available for
consumption, it doesn't determine how much they consume, the researchers
said. Often, women give the men the nutritious food, while they settle for
bulky, low calorie foods themselves.

A study of subsistence farming in Tanzania found that women supplied a
little more than half the calories consumed by the household, while men
contributed just under half.

"Observations during meal times showed that men normally received the lion's
share of the food. On the rare occasions when meals include meat, men
exceptionally become the servers and are responsible for the distribution of
meat among family members. As household heads, men are entitled to have the
best choice at meals, and more than their fair share when food is short.
Furthermore, prestigious foods such as meat and eggs are often consumed by
men outside the home, in coffee shops and beer bars, thus draining household
resources," the study said.

A nutritionist interviewed by IRIN added another dimension: "The culture in
most African countries is that the man gets the better share. Women do this
partly to protect their marriage - they don't want the man to think he will
get better food with another woman so they give him nice food. We all do it
a little bit, but when food is scarce and there is a limited amount of meat
or chicken it will go to the man first," she said.

"Women will spend money they earn on food for the household but men will
think, 'I need to taste some meat' and will take money and buy some."

In addition, women around the world will often feed their children first and
pretend they have already eaten when the family is struggling.

But while women in developed countries force malnutrition on themselves to
be fashionably thin, for women in developing countries, malnutrition is a
disaster bringing with it many ailments, mostly energy-sapping anaemia.

World Food Programme nutritionist Francesco Erdelmann said: "Lack of iron is
typically seen in women because of their loss of blood. Without enough iron
the blood can't carry oxygen and this lowers productivity. You can't see
anaemia but people feel tired, they can't be as active as they used to.

"It can be a very limiting factor - the best available source of iron is
meat but poor people can't afford it."

Erdelmann said malnutrition also posed difficulties for pregnant women. "For
African women it is business as usual," she noted. "They are not expected to
work less or eat more."

Erdelmann explained that the unborn child of a malnourished woman depends on
its mother's reserves in the womb. "If this is affected it could lead to a
low birth weight for the baby. This carries through to adolescence where
many women have their first child and the cycle of poor nutrition
continues."

Erdelmann said that while experiences in extreme emergencies such as
Ethiopia and Sudan have shown that malnutrition doesn't prevent a woman from
breastfeeding "it is an enormous drain on her reserves".

For some women who have lost too much weight, their menstrual cycle may be
disrupted or they may stop menstruating altogether.

"The body needs certain micronutrients to function. It's not just a matter
of being thin, the immune system needs certain nutrients to function and if
that is disrupted the body can't fight infectious diseases.

"The public notices severe weight loss but the body can already be severely
damaged before it even gets to that point," Erdelmann said.

Many of the latest aid donations for the Southern African food emergency
have targeted women and children. The European Commission recently announced
emergency help for Malawi including a special programme for breastfeeding
mothers.

However, Erdelmann said that the impact of the food shortages and
malnutrition on men also needed to be considered. "They can also be hard hit
by food shortages, which may affect their specific roles and
responsibilities in the household and community," she said.

[ENDS]

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Keyword: SOUTHERN AFRICA