ECOSOC Global Preparatory Meeting for the 2010 Annual Ministerial Review

Who Feed the World in 2010 and Beyond? Rural Women as Agents of Change and Champions of Global Food Security

Over the course of the food security dialogues, in particular the recent ECOSOC Global Preparatory Meeting for the 2010 Annual Ministerial Review, it was made very clear how the global food crisis has become an opportunity for various stakeholder, including development agencies to capitalize on their own interests.

It is clear that poverty exists, and it undeniable that oppressive norms render women even more vulnerable during times of food insecurity. However, if we want to achieve women’s empowerment and help them climb out of poverty, we must do so in a way that is actually empowering and not denigrating. Organizations that are experts in helping women become empowered in the true sense, such as the Huairou Commission, should continue along this method of practice when working in food security: insofar, it has been with tremendous force that development agencies and government bodies like the Obama Administration have been portraying or functioning according to the belief that food security is the result of patriarchal cultures, the use of ancient tools, lack of knowledge, national poverty, climate change and “third worldness”. In response, their approach to rectifying the food crisis has been to develop the rural sector, which is intentionally ambiguous: “developing” this sector could mean either a) providing people of this sector with the tools and means to improve people’s lives, or b) transforming this sector into a profit-generating hub for multinational corporations and/ or large agribusinesses such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Cargill. It is the latter solution that multinational corporations, agribusinesses, G8 governments, development agencies and INGOs have been promoting under the pretext that food insecurity is a problem of food scarcity due to the above mentioned factors. Not only is this pretext untrue, it absolves those responsible for the crisis from accountability---not once was it mentioned at ECOSOC who the real perpetrators of food insecurity were! Yet, for the past three decades, transnational agribusiness companies have pushed for market liberalization, manipulated trade and restructured global agriculture, changing the way food is grown and distributed around the world. They did this by exerting their own market power and through the support of governments, the World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organization. While these entities have been able to reap large profits, others suffered from hunger. By denying the role these agencies have played in creating the food crisis, it hinders real solutions from being identified. For example, panelist Ms. Carol Kramer-LeBlanc (Director for Sustainable Development, Office of the Chief Economist, United States Department of Agriculture) spoke on how hunger could be eradicated by:

“establishing a goals oriented, evidenced-based approach to achieving food security, which will support country-led plans and priorities in countries committed to policies that are conducive to rapid development. These policies include embracing a strategic and robust research agenda that 1) promotes innovations in science and technology, 2) supporting entrepreneurial approaches to market-based agricultural growth.”

Promoting innovations in science and technology to increase food production is the crux of the Obama’s Feed the Future Program, which includes promoting Monsanto’s endeavors to engineer and control seeds. Ms. Kramer-LeBlanc also referred to the Gates Foundation, with whom the USAID partnered with, to supposedly help women become leaders in rural development. However, the Gates Foundation is also a strong supporter of GMOs: They funded the “The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa”, which aims to develop ‘more productive’ and resilient varieties of Africa’s major food crops to enable Africa’s small-scale farmers to produce larger, more diverse and reliable harvests.”[1]

This rural development approach suggests that the problem of food insecurity is food scarcity and poor technology. But the truth is that there is already enough food to feed the world. The real problem resides in our ideals about market capitalism and our relationships with developing countries. Another fundamental problem with this rural development approach is that it is diametrically opposed to what rural women want---even though they pledge to include women in development planning! In every event at the CSW where grassroots women spoke, the feedback we received from the focus group discussion for the regional papers and in the presentation by the two grassroots panelists at the ECOSOC preparatory meeting, it was emphasized that what women wanted was food sovereignty: they want the right to control their own seeds, the production process, decide what foods they want eat and revive indigenous practices because it frees them from the cyclical debt of corporate-owned seeds, fertilizers and chemicals.

In addition, this rural development approach is not empowering to women. The buzz words in the current discourse on development is “women’s inclusion” and “women’s empowerment” but how does the promotion of agribusinesses ensure women’s empowerment? It does not! And when you look at how Liberia is has pursued women’s empowerment, you will see that there is not one method that involves expanding agricultural production. Rather, their empowerment-building trajectory has been one that enables women to:

“acquire a critical awareness of themselves as women and knowledge of the gender structure of power. Internalized knowledge that they have the potential to take action and lead. We want to achieve the ‘I can define my goal and I can take action towards achieving it’.”

This vision has been the framework for institutionalizing efforts at the national level to empower women and redress food insecurity. The Honorable Florence Chenoweth, Minister of Agriculture of Liberia stated that:

“to empower women we must use national policies to address biases against women. Women are marginalized from social and political representation (due to traditional and other practices). National Policy (NP) has to change this. They have to allow women to have more access to land and farm inputs as an important step to ensuring food security and national development. NP must therefore ensure that this critical issue is addressed with laws that protect against women being deprived of legal rights.”

Ms. Cunningham, Director of the Center for Indigenous people’s Autonomy and Development (CIDAP)—who provided regional perspectives on rural women’s empowerment at the ECOSOC preparatory meeting— also provided examples of sustainable ways to redress gender discrimination and food insecurity without violating cultural identity or food sovereignty. In Nicaragua, an organization led by indigenous women works in zones that have been affected by the war and natural disasters. Upon identifying gender-based violence as the biggest threat to women, the organization helped women start cultivating their own food—to lessen the pressures of poverty and hunger. They also started awareness raising workshops to inform women about their rights. This in turn allowed them to voice their concerns and needs to municipal authorities and regional governments.

The food crisis has incited too many stakeholders to get involved in agricultural development, and if grassroots organizations are not vocal, multinational corporations, agribusinesses, G8 governments, development agencies and INGOs will continue portraying food insecurity as a problem of poor technology, poverty, cultural attitudes towards women, and underdevelopment—all of which are venues for large development projects that, again, will threaten cultural diversity and sovereignty. This is not development. This is cultural imperialism and market capitalism. Therefore, we must approach the problem of food insecurity with a similar perspective as “the personal is political.” In other words, we have to be as critical in our analysis of what is causing food insecurity just as we have been critical in our analysis of why women do and / or behave the way they do. As we have come to understand the multiple forces at play that systematically oppress women and influence our behavior, we must come to understand what forces really inhibit access to food. Thus we must use this critical time to strengthen grassroots women’s capacity to identify the perpetrators and confront them. We must also increase their capacity to promote the type of development they want—a development that honors their cultural identity and food sovereignty. Their sustainable solutions to food insecurity is food sovereignty and true empowerment.

[1] About the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.” http://www.agra-alliance.org/about/about_more.html