Abstract:
This study was conducted in the department of Rural Sociology, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan during the years 2017-2018. The objective of the study was 'to analyze the socio-cultural constraints in gender mainstreaming in food security at the household level and to evaluate their association with demographic characteristics of respondents. The study was conducted in 3 tehsils of district Vehari and district Pakpattan. Total 30 villages were selected randomly and about 16 women were selected from each village through convenient random sampling that makes a sample size of 480 respondents. Quantitative data technique was used in this study. Pre-testing was carried out to inspect the workability of the questionnaire. The data were analyzed by statistical techniques containing univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis. Findings revealed that 39.8% of the rural women were illiterate and 26.3% were primary pass. Nearly 75.9% of the women exposed that they have the least opportunities for training regarding food security that's why about 93.6% of the women had been following the old patterns of cooking and eating food. In addition almost 72.3% of the household members were concerned about the taste of the food rather than nutrition. About 67.5% of the women revealed that their access to the market is lesser than male members of the family. Over and above, nearly 70.7% of the respondents told that due to lack of acknowledgment for their services, they lose interest in household matters i.e. food security. Moreover, more than half of the selected women (57.7%) did not have purpose-built kitchen at their houses, that's why laborious work and a lots of time is required to cook healthfully and hygienically, because they cook their meals in courtyard, on the rooftop or living rooms, which cause the extra exertion for rural women. All the above mentioned socio-cultural constraints highly affected the core issue of food security. Research revealed that there is an association between age, education level of the women and socio-cultural constraints they face. Rural women were restricted by the socio-cultural constraints and cannot play an efficient role in food security at the household level.
Page(s):
135-142
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Journal of Agricultural Research, Volume: 57, Issue: 2, Year: 2019
Keywords:
Nutrition
,
rural women
,
laborious work
,
household
,
Gender mainstreaming
,
role