Disrupting the Global Food Systems towards Advancing Gender Equality, Human Rights and International Solidarity: The Case of South Africa, Brazil, China and Mexico
December 2020
- Theme: COVID-19, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Global South Women's Forum, Land Rights and Natural Resources, Macroeconomics, Rural Women.
- Type: Video.
- Region/Country: Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa.
- Language: English, Nepali Sign Language.
COVID-19 has undermined food security both directly, by disrupting food systems, and indirectly, through the impacts of lockdowns on household incomes and physical access to food. Furthermore, COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic could undermine food production, processing and marketing, but the most concerning impacts are on the demand side – economic and physical access to food.
The Inequality Movement analyses the impact of all this on rural women by pinpointing areas for governments and other actors to intervene in the food system (through effective and inclusive macroeconomic policy shifts), to protect the food security of households left vulnerable by COVID-19 and public responses to this global pandemic.
In particular, this session at Global South Women’s Forum 2020 explores three main areas: inequalities in how women access markets within the food sector/systems; inequalities in how women access means of production like land and water; and inequalities in how women access finance in the form of loans and support for start-up. Panelists Sibulele Poswayo, Prof Pam Rajput, Dr Nthabiseng Moleko (Commission for Gender Equality) and Dr Fei-fei Cai share case studies from South Africa, Brazil, China and Mexico, and lessons learnt on how to fight for inclusive and gender-responsive macroeconomic policies in food systems. The session ends with recommendations on how we – as feminists – can create international solidarity in demanding that the global economy be designed to advance gender equality and human rights.
Duration: 1:31:05
Subtitles: None