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Examines advertisers’ use of gender in food advertising to children. Previous studies of gender preference in children’s advertising suggest gender bias exists. Food products are most often gender‐neutral. Advertising for food products is compared to non‐food advertisements. Examines measures of voice‐over gender, gender of dominant product user, gender of main character, activity level, aggressive behavior level, and soundtrack volume. A sample of food advertisements to children exhibits greater gender preference in presentation than the comparison sample of non‐food advertisements to children. This suggests that food advertising should consider gender bias among other factors when proceeding with self‐regulation of children’s advertising.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between food sponsorships and gender stereotypes, focusing on how patriarchal beliefs influence consumers’ purchase intentions in sports.

The research comprised two studies. In Study 1, n = 161 participants participated via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. Study 2 involved n = 250 participants who completed a cross-sectional and self-administered survey.

Study 1 indicated an apparent gender-based categorization of certain foods and beverages: beer and red meat were predominantly perceived as masculine, while yogurt, salads, and wine were seen as feminine. Further, brands like Budweiser and Red Bull were mainly seen as masculine, while Chobani and Smoothie King were perceived as feminine. Moreover, findings indicate that foods, especially those rich in protein or linked to BBQ and spicy tastes, are considered more masculine by men than women in sports settings. Further, Study 2 findings unveiled a significant relationship between patriarchal beliefs and both attitudes (ß = 0.327, p < 0.01) and subjective norms (ß = 0.525, p < 0.01) towards masculine brands.

The two studies’ results underscore the profound impact of gender stereotypes shaping sports fans’ perceptions of food items and the brands sponsoring them. This inquiry significantly augments the current understanding of the nuanced interrelation between the paradigms of social role theory and the theory of planned behavior, particularly within the ambit of sports-related sponsorship by food and beverage brands and its consequent influence on consumer purchasing inclinations.

This study aims to investigate gendered meanings of food and its relationship with identity management for Turkish university students’ food practices and beliefs.

Methodologically, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in this study as a complementary way. Data were collected from a total of 711 university students.

Taken together, the findings strongly support gender-based food stereotypes as consistent with previous literature with some cultural variations. As another important finding, gendered associations of foods are stronger than those of non-alcoholic beverages among Turkish university students.

In terms of original contribution, this study not only provides valuable information about young consumers’food beliefs and practices in terms of gender-based stereotypes and identity management, but also enriches the current literature, specifically focusing on Turkey, which has a completely different cultural background as compared to Europe, the USA and the Far East. To the best of authors’knowledge, this is the very first study on this subject specifically focusing on Turkish consumers’ gift-buying behaviors through the internet channel.

Food insecurity and hunger are found to have important adverse mental health effects, and have been of particular interest to epidemiologists and public health scholars. The primary goal of the present study is to expand our understanding of the mental health effects of food insecurity by assessing gender-based disparities among a nationally-representative sample of U.S. adults.

Using data from the combined 2011-2012 and 2013-2014 cycles of The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (N=11,539), we estimated multiple ordinary least squares and binomial models using adult food insecurity measures and self-reported gender as main predictors of depressive symptoms and alcohol use.

Our results demonstrate that food insecurity is associated with depressive symptoms but not alcohol consumption. Additionally, we found an association between food insecurity and increased psychological distress among women relative to men. In contrast, no evidence of a difference in the association between food insecurity and alcohol use was observed across the two genders, indicating that experiences of food insecurity are particularly salient for psychological health among women.

These findings add to the growing literature that household food insecurity has serious mental health consequences, and extend this work by clarifying ways in which gender accounts for differences in the association between food insecurity and psychological and behavioral outcomes.

The purpose of this present paper is twofold: (1) to study the role of gender in food preferences and (2) to study the change in food choice due to climate change in Chandigarh, India. Thus, the hypothesis developed are that (1) there is a significant effect of environmental change on the dietary habits of the women and (2) gender norms are significant in the selection of foods in Chandigarh.

The literature review was done with the help of NVivo 11, and for quantitative data analysis, SPSS version 22 is used.

The study concluded that societal gender norms were not significant for women in the choice of food. Also, climate change and women are an essential factor in food preferences at the household level.

While framing the adaptation policy and programs at the institutional level, the cultural and traditional knowledge gets little attention. Hence, the present paper will contribute in the policy-making from a gender perspective.

This paper aims to suggest that gender inequality plays a significant role in explaining the prevailing magnitudes of food insecurity in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides empirical evidence for the underlying hypothesis that removing discrimination against women, particularly, with respect to their reproductive health and rights, depicted in high adolescent fertility rates and maternal deaths, will be an important pre-condition for addressing the hunger and undernourishment challenge in the region. A theoretical linkage has been conceptualised and supported through findings from panel data analysis of a set of 20 countries in the region, over a period of 16 years (from 1999 to 2015). The key result is that the relative impact of health inequality on food insecurity is higher and significant, in comparison to disparities in education and economic participation of women. A unit increase in adolescent fertility rate leads to an increase in undernourishment by 19.4 per cent, depth of food deficit by 1.15 per cent and a decline in average dietary energy adequacy by 0.21 per cent.

In the paper, time series data set for 20 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa is generated by using world development indicators (World Bank) of gender inequality and food security statistics of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Data set involves trends in variables over a period of 16 years (1999 to 2015). A panel regression analysis with fixed effects is undertaken for testing the underlying hypothesis. To capture the linkage in a detailed manner, the author has fitted four models for each of the three measures of food security. First model captures the specific impact of gender differences in secondary school enrolment on food security in the region. Second model assesses the impact of gender inequality in labour force participation, and the third model explores the impact of health inequality in terms of adolescent fertility and maternal mortality on food security indicators. In the final model, the relative impact of all the four gender inequality indicators on magnitude of food insecurity in the study region is assessed.

The findings from panel data analysis provide empirical support to our hypothesis that gender disparities prevailing in Sub-Saharan Africa have an adverse impact on the level of food security in the region. Individually, increase in both, gender parity in secondary education and ratio of female to male labour force participation rate, has a negative influence on prevalence of undernourishment and depth of food deficit in the region. But, when the relative impact of gender inequality in education, economic participation and health are considered together in a single model, adolescent fertility rate, followed by maternal mortality ratio became the two most important indicators negatively influencing the magnitude of food security in SSA. A unit increase in adolescent fertility rate, leads to an increase in undernourishment by 19.4 per cent, depth of food deficit by 1.15 per cent and a decline in average dietary energy adequacy by 0.21 per cent.

Scarcity of continuous time series data for the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa limits the scope of analysis.

Government policies and programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa must focus on successful implementation of sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, as underlined in Goal 3 of sustainable development goals (SDGs). This would require deeper levels of interventions aimed at transforming gender roles and relations through involvement of men and boys as partners. Elimination of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, and ensuring easy and affordable access to sexual and reproductive health services, particularly in fragile and conflict affected areas, are some of the important measures which may facilitate movement of the countries in the region, towards the target set by SDG 3.

Indisputably, women play a key role in a nation’s food economy, not only as food producers and income earners but also as food distributors and consumers. Nevertheless, they face discrimination in every dimension and phase of life, which hampers their ability to successfully fulfill this responsibility. The paper provides a theoretical linkage and empirical evidence on the underlying hypothesis that targeting various forms of gender disparities in the African sub-continent, particularly those relating to reproductive health and rights of women will pave the way for reducing the magnitude of hunger and food insecurity in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Few papers in my knowledge have explored the linkage between gender inequality and food insecurity, but none have empirically emphasised the reproductive health dimension of this association.

Previous research assumes that economic development is the key to increasing the food supply and alleviating child malnutrition. However, economic development alone does not promise that income is distributed fairly, nor does it guarantee that other human needs will be fulfilled. What has been missing from cross-national research is an analysis of how gender inequality shapes women’s abilities to effectively maintain food security. The current study contributes to this literature by exploring the multidimensional effects of women’s empowerment on child stunting and wasting.

Pooling data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and the World Bank, the analysis estimates a series of multi-level models that examine the country-level influences on malnutrition, while also accounting for household and maternal characteristics that affect food security at the individual level.

Results suggest that improvements in women’s education, control over reproduction, representation in national politics, and life expectancy correspond to improvements in child malnutrition. Notably, the effects of gender inequality are comparable to or larger than those of economic development. The multi-level modeling technique illustrates how social forces that are larger than the individual shape the chances of experiencing food insecurity.

Cross-national data are limited in scope and cannot prove causality. Further research is also needed to better understand the process by which women wield advances in rights and empowerment to affect food security.

If policymakers want to facilitate food security in poor countries, they should not disregard the potential of policies that will promote more equitable rights for women.

This introduction provides an overview of the themes and chapters of this volume.

The chapters present original qualitative and quantitative research illustrating the complex relationship between gender and food. The need to understand the relationship intersectionally and in historical context is apparent and provisioning as caring emerges as a major theme.

Food is a human right yet it is not always and everywhere available and when it is not always humanly produced and healthful. The fact that food production and consumption is gendered cannot be ignored in the quest for feeding our planet.

The chapter and the volume are intended to illustrate some of the many ways that food and gender are related and to encourage gender scholars to continue to pay attention to food research.

The chapter is an auto-ethnographic account of the self-management of a chronic illness within the context of a participatory research project on Mediterranean Diet (MD). A group of Italian women with type 2 diabetes is following a non-medical, personal interpretation of the Mediterranean-style diet. The research account is preceded by a critical appraisal of the scientific narratives of the MD.

Analysis of epidemiological research on MD examines some methodological aspects of gender blindness in its scientific approach. The ethnography concerns self-management of MD diet and redefinition of gender relations.

MD is analyzed as a case of transplantation of yesterday’s cultural and social capitals of the peasant classes, to today’s discourses on food considered as appropriate for affluent people suffering from satiety diseases. The ethnography highlights gender aspects of biographical work, examining in particular a “conversion” dietary model.

The ethnography must be amplified to include women and men from different social classes with various Mediterranean cooking habits, and family and gender patterns.

The chapter highlights cultural processes for women’s empowerment in self-managing type 2 diabetes.

This chapter may represent a seminal sociological work on chronic illness, gender and food studies in one of the “native” contexts of the Mediterranean-style diet.

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on gender and food security in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

This paper adopts a survey research technique aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population. A total of 800 women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region. It is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation.

The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching (PSM) and logit model indicate that the CSR interventions of the MOCs using GMoUs have contributed to empowering women to effectively discharge their role in food and nutritional security. This is achieved by enhancing coherence in policies on gender, agriculture, nutrition, health, trade and other relevant areas in the Niger Delta. The findings also show that the CSR intervention of MOCs supported ecologically sound approaches to food production, such as agro-ecology that promotes sustainable farming and women’s empowerment in the region.

This suggests that recognizing and respecting the local knowledge of farmers, including women farmers, will help develop locally relevant food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa.

This implies that promoting the implementation of everybody’s right to food, particularly that of women, as well as giving women rights to other resources such as land, in addition to engaging women and men in challenging the inequitable distribution of food within the household, will help strengthen food security in Africa.

This research contributes to the gender debate in agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and serves as a basis for the host communities to demand social projects. It concludes that corporate establishments have an obligation to help solve problems of public concern.