COVID-19′s Impact on American Women’s Food Insecurity Foreshadows Vulnerabilities to Climate Change
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. A Vicious Cycle: Food Insecurity and Gender Inequity in the U.S.
U.S. National Trends in Sexism and Women’s Food Insecurity
3. The Economic Factors That Predispose Women to Food Insecurity
Broader National Gendered Wage and Benefits Gaps
4. The Role Crises Play in Women’s Food Insecurity
4.1. Economic Shocks and Food Insecurity
4.1.1. Broader Trends Linking Economic Shocks and Food Insecurity
4.1.2. The COVID-19 Pandemic’s Economic Shock and the Impact on American Women’s Food Insecurity
4.1.3. COVID-19 and Climate Parallels: Global Economic Shocks and Food Insecurity
4.1.4. Expected Climate Impacts on the Economy in the U.S.
4.2. Fragile Food Systems and Food Insecurity
4.2.1. Broader Trends Linking Food System Fragility and Food Insecurity during the COVID-19 Pandemic
4.2.2. National Changes in Food Systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic
4.2.3. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Climate Parallels: Global Food System Fragility
4.2.4. Expected Climate Impacts on Food Systems in U.S.
4.3. Gender-Based Violence and Food Insecurity
4.3.1. Broader Gender-Based Violence and Food Insecurity Linkages
4.3.2. U.S. GBV and Food Insecurity Trends during the COVID-19 Pandemic
4.3.3. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Climate Parallels: GBV
5. How a Women-Centered Green New Deal Could Protect against the Worst Food Security Shocks of Climate Change
5.1. The Spillover Effect: When Women Entrepreneurs Shrink the Pay Gap
5.2. Women Entrepreneurs Can Weather Economic Shocks Better
5.3. Economic Empowerment’s Impact on Gender-Based Violence
5.4. Policy Recommendations
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- During the COVID-19 pandemic, women lost their jobs at higher rates than men, exacerbated by sexist norms, part-time employment, and market-sensitive industries in which women often work. Climate-related market disruptions are also expected to impact women’s economic wellbeing. Boosting economic security can help prevent women’s food insecurity, especially when she controls her wages and benefits as a small business owner. To mitigate women’s financial vulnerabilities, policies and new funding sources should be established to support women’s entrepreneurship, along with coaching on the importance of implementing gender and racial parity within their own businesses.
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- Support systems such as child and elder care services were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since women are primarily responsible for caring for dependent family members, this led to millions of American women leaving their jobs, resulting in greater economic hardship and food insecurity. We expect to see similar impacts of future climate crises without policies that recognize the value placed on the invisible, unpaid, and undervalued work that women do, such as housework, raising children, and elder care [81]. One policy solution would be to create a pension credit system for anyone, woman or man, who does any kind of unpaid caregiving work [82]. Another solution is to boost the non-wage benefits all workers receive, but especially those that would cover traditionally unpaid care-work such as paid sick leave, longer parental leave, paid time off for caregiving, and employer-sponsored health insurance, regardless of full- or part-time employment.
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- Transparency has been recognized as a mechanism for increasing gender pay and benefits equity. Therefore, national policies that expand and bolster existing systems for tracking and reporting gender-disaggregated pay and benefits data should be developed. This will raise awareness of compensation, making it possible for employees to advocate for adherence to gender pay equity laws and to broaden the definition of “equal” work to include “similar” work.
6. Conclusions: Policies Aimed to Bolster Economic Security for Women Will Increase Women’s Resilience and Improve Food Security
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Belsey-Priebe, M.; Lyons, D.; Buonocore, J.J. COVID-19′s Impact on American Women’s Food Insecurity Foreshadows Vulnerabilities to Climate Change. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 6867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136867
Belsey-Priebe M, Lyons D, Buonocore JJ. COVID-19′s Impact on American Women’s Food Insecurity Foreshadows Vulnerabilities to Climate Change. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(13):6867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136867
Chicago/Turabian StyleBelsey-Priebe, Maryruth, Deborah Lyons, and Jonathan J. Buonocore. 2021. "COVID-19′s Impact on American Women’s Food Insecurity Foreshadows Vulnerabilities to Climate Change" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 13: 6867. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136867