Premium
Effects of ‘women empowerment’ on household food security in rural KwaZulu‐Natal province
Author(s) -
Sharaunga S.,
Mudhara M.,
Bogale A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
development policy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.671
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1467-7679
pISSN - 0950-6764
DOI - 10.1111/dpr.12151
Subject(s) - empowerment , food security , agency (philosophy) , women's empowerment , food insecurity , economic growth , socioeconomics , scale (ratio) , ordered logit , business , geography , economics , sociology , agriculture , social science , cartography , archaeology , machine learning , computer science
Understanding the dimensions of ‘women's empowerment’ that influence food security among rural households is crucial to inform policy. This study uses the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale ( HFIAS ) to identify the food security status of 300 primary female‐headed households in Msinga, South Africa. Principal Component Analysis was then used to identify the various dimensions along which the rural women sampled were empowered. Finally, the Ordered Logit model was used to identify the dimensions of women's empowerment that influence their household food security status. It was found that households headed by women with higher levels of economic agency, physical capital empowerment, psychological empowerment and farm financial management skills empowerment were more likely to be food secure.