BODY/MIND: Food crisis is a feminist issue

I have been following food crisis news for more than a year about dwindling international reserves of rice and other grains (read my 2007 interview about rice), and the true crisis - apart from those hungry today - is that this will send back international women's rights for decades.

In short, high food prices have a undue affect on women. The percentage of women farmers ranges from 20 to 70, and is rising quickly in developing countries as more men leave for work in cities. In Africa, the situation is already harrowing for many women, who face violence from social unrest daily. The food crisis is compounding - worsening - existent civil strife. Some of the problems we can expect with respect for women's rights:

Increase in violence against women
More of their time is spent waiting (or looking) for food, reducing the amount of time they have to spend on other activities, including school, child-raising, and work
Poverty deepens
Children suffer
Literacy rates drop
An uptick in sexual work to make money

Ensuring women's rights - and pursuing policies that do so - isn't just a humanitarian issue, it is an economic one. (CN)