Research Article | OPEN ACCESS
Gender Role Attitude and Food Insecurity among Women in Ibadan, Nigeria
1F.M. Ibrahim, 2M.O. Ojo, 1B. Osikabor, 3H.O. Akinosho, 4A.B. Ibrahim, 1B.T. Olatunji, 1O.G. Ogunwale and 3O.F. Akanni
1Department of Agricultural Extension and Management
2Department of Forestry Technology
3Department of Agricultural Technology, Federal College of Forestry, P.M.B. 5087
4Department of Psychology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Advance Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015 7:484-489
Received: June 17, 2014 | Accepted: July 19, 2014 | Published: March 05, 2015
Abstract
There is a gendered colouration of food insecurity with more women than men being adversely affected. Yet, social norms regarding the roles of men and women appear to be traditionalistic and unfavourable to economic advancement among women thereby limiting their chances of being food secure. This study was therefore designed to examine gender role attitudes as it affects food insecurity while controlling the role of financial status among women in Ibadan metropolis. The work is a cross-sectional survey which featured the administration of 650 copies of a largely structured questionnaire among randomly and systematically selected women in Ibadan, Nigeria. Variables were measured with multi-item scales. Pearson r was used to assess relationships between pairs of gender role attitude, education, age and food insecurity. Partial r was further used to assess the relationship between gender role attitude and food insecurity while controlling for financial status. One way ANOVA was used to assess significant differences in means across sub-groups of marital status while post hoc test (LSD) was used to identify homogenous sub-groups. Simple percentile analysis shows that 39.1% of respondents arbitrarily held traditional attitude towards gender roles while only 12.2% were non food insecure. Gender role attitude was significantly and positively related to food insecurity (p<0.05) and this relationship was sustained even when financial status is controlled for (p<0.05). Marital status had a main effect on food insecurity (p<0.05). Education was significantly and negatively related to food insecurity (p<0.05) but age was not (p>0.05). The pattern of gender role attitude is quasi-traditional. Egalitarian disposition to gender role is yet to be firmly rooted and food insecurity is still a plague among women in the study area. Gender role attitude is consequential for food insecurity regardless of financial status among women. Being unmarried or married as opposed to being divorced or widowed and increasing education serves protective roles against food insecurity but age does not.
Keywords:
Food security, gender role , women,
References
-
Adebayo, O.O. and O.D. Abegunrin, 2013. Analysis of food insecurity and coping mechanisms among rural women in Boripe local government area of Osun State, Nigeria. Res. Human. Soc. Sci., 3(20): 9-17.
-
Anema, A., K. Chan, Y. Chen, S. Weiser, J.S.G. Montaner and R.S. Hogg, 2013. Relationship between food insecurity and mortality among HIV-positive injection drug users receiving antiretroviral therapy in British Columbia, Canada. PLoS One, 8(5): e61277. DOI: 10.1371/journal. pone.0061277.
-
Asian Development Bank, 2013. Gender Equality And Food Security: Women's Empowerment as a Tool Against Hunger. Retrieved from: http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/pub/2013/gender-equality-and-food-security.pdf. (Accessed on: January 22, 2014)
-
Awogbenle, A.C. and K.C. Iwuamadi, 2010. Youth unemployment: Entrepreneurship development programme as an intervention mechanism. Afr. J. Bus. Manag., 4(6): 831-835.
-
Belachew, T., D. Lindstrom, A. Gebremariam, C. Jira, M.K. Hattori, C. Lachat, L. Huybregts and K. Patrick, 2012. Predictors of chronic food insecurity among adolescents in Southwest Ethiopia: A longitudinal study. BMC Public Health, 12: 604.
CrossRef PMid:22863140 PMCid:PMC3439274 -
Belsky, D.W., T.E. Moffitt, L. Arseneault, M. Melchior and A. Caspi, 2010. Context and sequelae of food insecurity in children's development. Am. J. Epidemiol., 172(7): 809-818.
CrossRef PMid:20716700 PMCid:PMC2984258 -
Dean, W.R., J.R. Sharkey and C.M. Johnson, 2011. Food insecurity is associated with social capital, perceived personal disparity and partnership status among older and senior adults in a largely rural area of central texas. J. Nutr. Gerontol. Geriatr., 30(2): 169-186.
CrossRef PMid:21598165 -
Kiptot, E., S. Franzel and A. Degrande, 2014. Gender, agroforestry and food security in Africa. Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustain., 6: 104-109.
CrossRef -
Kregg-Byers, C.M. and E.N. Schlenk, 2010. Implications of food insecurity on global health policy and nursing practice. J. Nurs. Scholarship, 42(3): 278-285.
CrossRef PMid:20738738 -
Laraia, B.A., 2013. Food insecurity and chronic disease. Adv. Nutr., 4: 203-212.https://doi.org/10.3945/an.112.003277
CrossRef PMid:23493536 PMCid:PMC3649100 -
McMichael, P. and M. Schneider, 2011. Food security politics and the millennium development goals. Third World Q., 32(1): 119-139.
CrossRef PMid:21591303 -
Miller, C.L., D.R. Bangsberg, D.M. Tuller, J. Senkungu, A. Kawuma, E.A. Frongillo and S.D. Weiser, 2011. Food insecurity and sexual risk in an HIV endemic community in Uganda. AIDS Behav., 15: 1512-1519.
CrossRef PMid:20405316 PMCid:PMC3110536 -
National Population Commission, 2007. 2006 National Population Census. NPC Publication, Ann Arbor, MI.
-
Okafor, E.E., 2011. Youth unemployment and implications for stability of democracy in Nigeria. J. Sustain. Dev. Afr., 13(1): 358-373.
-
Rabiu, K.A., A.A. Adewunmi, F.M. Akinlusi and O.I. Akinola, 2010. Female reproductive tract infections: Understandings and care seeking behaviour among women of reproductive age in Lagos, Nigeria. BMC Women's Health, 10: 8.
CrossRef PMid:20331888 PMCid:PMC2851660 -
Radimer, K.L., C.M. Olson and C.C. Campbell, 1990. Development of indicators to assess hunger. J. Nutr., 11: 1544-1548.
-
Rahman, A. and R. Karim, 2013. Prevalence of food insecurity among women in rural area of North West Bangladesh. Pak. J. Nutr., 12(4): 329-333.
CrossRef -
Seligman, H.K., B.A. Laraia and M.B. Kushel, 2010. Food insecurity is associated with chronic disease among low-income NHANES participants. J. Nutr., 140(2): 304-310.
CrossRef PMid:20032485 PMCid:PMC2806885 -
Senbanjo, I.O., I.O. Olayiwola, W.A. Afolabi and O.C. Senbanjo, 2013. Maternal and child under-nutrition in rural and urban communities of Lagos state, Nigeria: The relationship and risk factors. BMC Res. Notes, 6: 286.
CrossRef PMid:23880121 PMCid:PMC3725170 -
Slopen, N., G. Fitzmaurice, D.R. Williams and S.E. Gilman, 2010. Poverty, food insecurity and the behavior for childhood internalizing and externalizing disorders. J. Am. Acad. Child Psy., 49(5): 444-452.
CrossRef -
Smith, L.C. and L. Haddad, 2000. Explaining child malnutrition in developing countries: A cross-country analysis. IFPRI Research Report 111. IFPRI, Washington, DC.
-
Uji, M., M. Shono, N. Shikai, H. Hiramura and T. Kitamura, 2006. Egalitarian sex role attitudes among Japanese human service professionals: Confirmatory factor analytic study. Psychiat. Clin. Neuros., 60: 296-302.
CrossRef PMid:16732745 -
Weiser, S.D., A.C. Tsai, R. Gupta, E.A. Frongillo, A. Kawuma, A. Senkungu, P.W. Hunt, N.I. Emenyonu, J.E. Mattson, J.N. Martin and D.R. Bangsberg, 2012. Food insecurity is associated with morbidity and patterns of healthcare utilization among HIV-infected individuals in a resource-poor setting. AIDS, 2: 26(1): 67-75.
-
Young, S., A.C. Wheeler, S.I. McCoy and S.D. Weiser, 2013. A review of the role of food insecurity in adherence to care and treatment among adult and pediatric populations living with HIV and AIDS. Aids Behav. Retrieved from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10461-013-0547-4#page-1.
CrossRef
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests.
Open Access Policy
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Copyright
The authors have no competing interests.
|
|
![](http://www.maxwellsci.com/images/AJFST-maxw.jpg) |
ISSN (Online): 2042-4876
ISSN (Print): 2042-4868 |
![Submit Manuscript](../images/sub.jpg) |
Information |
|
|
|
Sales & Services |
|
|
|