Gender equality is key to food security.

SDGs Associated with Gender equality

• India and other countries have agreed to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched by the ‘United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’ in 2016.
•  SDGs aim to a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
•  There are 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030.
•  Out of these, SDG 5 talks about the gender equality.
•  SDG 5 holds substantial potential for promoting food security but also has serious limitations.

Role of women in food system

• India and other countries have agreed to fulfill the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) launched by the ‘United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’ in 2016.
•  SDGs aim to a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
•  There are 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030.
•  Out of these, SDG 5 talks about the gender equality.
•  SDG 5 holds substantial potential for promoting food security but also has serious limitations.

Potential SDG 5

• The potential lies in its focus on women’s access to land and property, and natural resources.
•  Secure land rights for women can improve both their productivity as farmers and family nutritional allocations.
•  SDG 5 mentions financial services. Affordable credit would help women farmers invest in necessary inputs.
• Target 5.5 emphasizes women’s participation in public life. Though it focuses on legislatures and village councils, it can be extended to community institutions managing forests and water.

Limitations of SDG 5

• Target 5A on inheritance is diluted by the clause ‘In accordance with national laws.’ It provides a loophole to bypass the goal’s mandate.
• SDG 5 is silent on government land transfers to women.
•  SDG 5 explicitly recognizes access to forests and fisheries, or the challenges of climate change. It restricts its potential.

SDG 5 for the goal of food security

• It can interpret women’s access to natural resources to specifically cover forests, fisheries, and irrigation.
•  It can connect with SDG 1 and SDG 2 which recognize the need for women to access land, credit, knowledge, and markets.
•  It can interpret goals which mention gender to include support for women farmers, as in SDG 13 on climate change.
•  It can engender SDGs which bear crucially on food security but at present disregard gender e.g. SDG 15 on forests and SDG 14 on marine resources.