Measuring gender empowerment and its implications for food security in northern Vietnam

1. Christian Genova1, Wendy Umberger1, Suzie Newman2, & Mia Urbano3 1The University of Adelaide | 2Plant and Food Research | 3Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Measuring gender empowerment and its implications for food security in northern Vietnam Seeds of Change Conference | 2-4 April 2019 | Ann Harding Conference Centre, University of Canberra

2. Gender equality South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: remains a problem Southeast Asia*: women and men relatively equally empoweredfamily farm operation women: equal access to productive resources, greater control over household income inter-country differences: culture, religion, family systems, socio-political values *Source: Akter, S, Rutsaert, P, Luis, J, Htwe, NM, San, SS, Raharjo, B & Pustika, A 2017, 'Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia', Food Policy, vol. 69, 2017/05/01/, pp. 270-279. University of Adelaide

3. Lao Cai province ACIAR AGB/2012/059 project site 22% live below poverty line (2017) many ethnic minority groups smallholder vegetable production; low vegetable consumption per capita stunting and wasting ratios among children ≤5yo 1.4 times higherthan national average (2015) ‘spatial poverty trap’ due to remoteness little information on gender empowerment University of Adelaide Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnam_Railway_Map.png

4. Agriculture-nutrition pathways smallholder vegetable production (1) consumption of diverse food from own production (2) market engagement (3) women’s and men’s empowerment in agriculture (3) women’s empowerment in agriculture Household level reduced workload: +HAZ, -WHZ income: -WHZ (girls) child nutrition food security (access) University of Adelaide

5. Objectives • assess the status of gender empowerment and food security among the ethnic minority communities in northwest Vietnam; and • assess association between empowerment and household food security, for women and men decision-makers University of Adelaide

6. Survey methodology Face-to-face interviews July-August 2016 4 districts stratified multistage sampling 4 strata: high/low vegetable density per capita (H/LV); high/low elevation (H/LA) N=510 households (women and men main decision-makers interviewed separately) Source:SRTM downloaded from http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/inputCoord.asp Data: SRTM 90m digital Elevation Model (DEM) using ArcGIS10 <http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/SELECTION/listImages.asp> University of Adelaide

7. Survey instrument • modified Abbreviated-Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) • Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) • maternal care and micronutrient supplementation • health, access to clean water and toilet • farm production University of Adelaide

8. A-WEAI* *Source: Malapit, HJL, Pinkstaff, C, Sproule, K, Kovarik, C, Quisumbing, AR & Meinzen-Dick, RS 2017, The Abbreviated Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI), IFPRI Discussion Paper 01647, IFPRI, Washington, DC, <http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/131231/filename/131442.pdf>. University of Adelaide

9. University of Adelaide

10. A-WEAI (cont’d) aggregate index, and 2 sub-indices: 5 domains of empowerment (5DE): degree to which women/men are empowered in 5 domains Gender Parity Index (GPI): % of women who are equally empowered as men in the household) Source:Malapit, HJL, Kovarik, C, Sproule, K, Meinzen-Dick, RS & Quisumbing, AR 2015, Instructional guide on the Abbreviated-Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI), IFPRI, Washington, DC, <https://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/Basic%20Page/weai_instructionalguide_1.pdf>. University of Adelaide

11. Status of food insecurity • Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS)* • 9 occurrence (anxiety and uncertainty about household food supply, insufficient quality, and insufficient food intake), and 9 frequency-of-occurrence questions • range: 0-27 (higher score=higher food insecurity) • Household Food Insecurity Access Prevalence (HFIAP) • 4 categories: 1=food secure 2=mildly food insecure 3=moderately food insecure 4=severely food insecure *Source: Coates, J., Swindale, A. & Bilinsky, P. (2007), Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) for Measurement of Household Food Access: Indicator Guide (v. 3), Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project, Academy for Educational Development, Washington, DC. University of Adelaide

12. Many households are relatively food secure… University of Adelaide

13. Lao Cai A-WEAI Source: Vietnam Rural Household Survey (Jul-Aug 2016) University of Adelaide

14. 20% 15% 28% 43% 16% 23% 39% University of Adelaide

15. University of Adelaide

16. Association between women’s disempowerment and HFIAP Note: Results displayed are odds ratios, using generalised ordered logit estimators. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1. Individual (age, education, ethnicity), household (monthly food and non-food expenditure per capita, no. of children <5yo, vegetable diversity, time to nearest market, total cultivated area), & community (geographic stratum) control variables. a/ 1=inadequate if overall empowerment score <=0.80 of total weighted score (Diiro et al, 2018) b/ 1=inadequate (o=adequate) Source:Vietnam Rural Household Survey (Jul-Aug 2016), N=390 University of Adelaide

17. Note: FS, food secure; M-, mildly food insecure; Mo-, moderately food insecure; SFI, severely food insecure. Results displayed are odds ratios, using generalised ordered logit estimators. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1. b/ 1=inadequate (o=adequate) Source:Vietnam Rural Household Survey (Jul-Aug 2016), N=390 University of Adelaide

18. Association between men’s disempowerment and HFIAP Note: Results displayed are odds ratios, using generalised ordered logit estimators. *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1. Individual (age, education, ethnicity), household (monthly food and non-food expenditure per capita, no. of children <5yo, vegetable diversity, time to nearest market, total cultivated area), & community (geographic stratum) control variables. a/ 1=inadequate if overall empowerment score <=0.80 of total weighted score (Diiro et al, 2018) b/ 1=inadequate (o=adequate) Source:Vietnam Rural Household Survey (Jul-Aug 2016), N=390 University of Adelaide

19. Key messages • food insecurity (access) not a problem; approximately 70% households food secure/mildly food insecure • higher disempowerment index and lower GPI versus other countries • 4 gaps in empowerment (both gender): Workload, Group, Credit, Income (especially for women) • disempowerment not likely to influence food insecurity • women: overall disempowerment score & Credit • men: sub-indicator-specific (e.g. Credit & Group); Income, more likely but requires validation (n=13 or 3.3%) University of Adelaide

20. Thank you! christianll.genova@adelaide.edu.au wendy.umberger@adelaide.edu.au Acknowledgements: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Domestic Scholarship ACIAR for funding through AGB/2012/059 project Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU, especially to Lo Thi Thuy & Pham Thi Thuy Nga) Lao Cai Department of Crop Production and Crop Protection (especially to Nguyen Van Hung & Pham QuocCuong) Faculty of Economics and Rural Development, Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI, especially to Vuong Anh Vu & Nghiem Hoang Son) AgImpact & MAD SRA Team (Stuart Higgins, Amber Gregory, Jack Hetherington, & David McGill) Pham Thuy Hien & Hien Nguyen (National Coordinators AGB/2012/059), & Tran Minh Tien (SFRI) Alexandra Peralta, Rodd Dyer, Nicholas Minot, James Seale, Christian Culas, Ellen Goddard, & Dale Yi Pham Toan (VNUA), Pham Hung (CIAT), & Do TrongThang (SFRI) Le Thi Nga (HealthBridge) Nguyen Anh Duc & Thuy Pham Sonia Asilo (PhilRice) Le Nhu Thinh (FAVRI) University of Adelaide