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Covid-19 is a serious threat to the dietary quality of vulnerable communities in developing countries with limited economic resources. This study explored the implications of COVID-19 on daily dietary behavior and food consumption patterns of perishable and nonperishable food commodities based on the gender of household headship in Pakistan.

The data was collected through an online survey using the snowball sampling technique. A mixed design ANOVA, an independent t-test and a multivariate probit model were used to look at the data from 417 female-headed households and 1,131 male-headed households that were surveyed in the study.

Female-headed households experienced a greater decrease in their daily intake of perishable and nonperishable food commodities compared to male-headed households during COVID-19. The decrease in consumption of perishable food commodities was greater than the decrease in nonperishable food commodities for both female-headed and male-headed households. Female-headed households witnessed the largest decrease in daily intake of animal-derived foods, while male-headed households observed the highest diminution in consumption of fruits. Female-headed households and male-headed households reduced their consumption of perishable food commodities by more than one-third and one-fifth, respectively. Households with lower socioeconomic status reported higher reductions in their daily intakes of food commodities compared to households with higher socioeconomic status.

The cross-sectional nature of the collected data does not allow the development of a causal relationship between COVID-19 implications and food consumption changes in daily dietary patterns.

Dietary and consumption patterns of populations are changing worldwide due to COVID-19. There is no study to assist policymakers in determining how COVID-19 is affecting the daily food consumption patterns of perishable and non-perishable food commodities of households based on gender in the developing world.

This paper aims to investigate farmers’ vulnerability to climate change and variability in the northern region of Ghana.

The study assessed the vulnerability of male-headed and female-headed farming households to climate change and variability by using the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) and tested for significant difference in their vulnerability levels by applying independent two-sample-student’s t-test based on gender by using a sample of 210 smallholder farming households.

The results revealed a significant difference in the vulnerability levels of female-headed and male-headed farming households. Female–headed households were more vulnerable to livelihood strategies, socio-demographic profile, social networks, water and food major components of the LVI, whereas male-headed households were more vulnerable to health. The vulnerability indices revealed that female–headed households were more sensitive to the impact of climate change and variability. However, female-headed households have the least adaptive capacities. In all, female-headed farming households are more vulnerable to climate change and variability than male-headed farming households.

The study recommends that female-headed households should be given priority in both on-going and new intervention projects in climate change and agriculture by empowering them through financial resource support to venture into other income-generating activities. This would enable them to diversify their sources of livelihoods to boost their resilience to climate change and variability.

This is the first study that examined the gender dimension of vulnerability of smallholder farmers in Ghana by using the livelihood vulnerability framework. Female subordination in northern region of Ghana has been profound to warrant a study on gender dimension in relation to climate change and variability, especially as it is a semi-arid region with unpredictable climatic conditions. This research revealed the comparative vulnerability of male- and female-headed households to climate change and variability.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profound implications on the food and nutritional security of millions of households. The study assessed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on diet diversity, calorie consumption and intake of essential nutrients based on the gender of the households.

Mixed-design ANOVA and logistic regression were used to analyze the collected data from 260 female- and 463 male-headed households through an online survey in Pakistan.

The outcomes revealed that the diet diversity of female households was affected more due to the COVID-19 compared to male households. The decline in daily nutrients' (protein, phosphorus, zinc, iron and iodine) intake during the COVID-19 was also greater for female-headed households than male-headed households. The share of all food groups in daily calorie and nutrient provision decreased significantly during the COVID-19 for both types of households. The share of meat and meat products declined more for female-headed households compared to male-headed households. The share of perishable commodities in calorie provision to female and male households decreased 2% during the COVID-19 compared to the normal period. Small- and medium-sized female and male households were less likely to experience worsened diet diversity than large-sized households during the COVID-19. Low-income compared to medium- and high-income female and male households were more likely to report declined food diversity during the COVID-19.

The data used in this study were collected through an online survey due to public health measures imposed in the country.

Despite the emergence of literature on the implications of the pandemic on food security, the studies related to the gender-based impacts of COVID-19 on diet diversity and nutritional intakes of necessary nutrients are still non-existent. The current study will add to the literature by filling this gap.

This study seeks to identify locational and gendered determinants of inclusion of households in Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and estimate the respective impacts of LEAP on children education enrolment of beneficiary households in Ghana.

The study used secondary data of the Ghana Living Standard Survey Round 7 and employed the propensity score matching (PSM) model for the analysis of the objectives.

The PSM results established that different factors determine the inclusion of households in LEAP in rural and urban areas. Similarly, different factors determine the inclusion of male-headed and female-headed households in the programme. The impact of LEAP on children education is higher in urban areas compared to rural areas. The impact of LEAP on children's education is 10.4% higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Lastly, female-headed households are better at using the cash received from LEAP to take care of their wards' education relative to male-headed households.

The study recommends that different selection criteria should be used in selecting male-headed and female-headed as well as urban and rural poor households for inclusion in the LEAP programme. Female-headed households should be prioritised for benefiting from LEAP. The social welfare department disbursing the LEAP funds in rural areas should intensify education on the need for LEAP beneficiary households to enrol their wards in schools.

In this paper, the authors demonstrate that household inclusiveness of LEAP is influenced by locational and gendered factors. Also, the impact of LEAP on children education enrolment is relatively higher in urban areas than rural areas. Lastly, female-headed households relatively educate their wards with LEAP benefits than male-headed households.

This study analyses climate change vulnerability and adaptation in a northern province in Vietnam from the gender perspective.

A survey questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) was calculated for 134 female and 239 male-headed households. Descriptive statistics were synthesized to investigate climate change adaptation from the gender perspective.

The results show that the LVI of female-headed households is higher than male-headed households, but the variation is negligible. In addition, female and male farmers in the study area use different methods to adapt to climate change. Female farmers have critically contributed to the family workforce and climate change adaptation. Nevertheless, female farmers have less accessibility to agricultural services such as training and credit.

The study suggests that gendered interventions for improvement of livelihood to adapt to climate change should be developed for each aspect of the livelihood. Furthermore, enhancement of services for women and recognition of women's roles in responding to climate change would contribute to more active adaptation to climate change.

Studies on climate change from the gender perspective in Vietnam have been conducted on a limited scale. Particularly, there are very limited studies on climate change in association with gender issue in North Vietnam. Thus, this study will provide more insights into the gender dimension of climate change vulnerability and adaptation so that gender-based adaptation strategies can be developed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the population‐food crop production nexus, and within it assesses the differences between male‐ and female‐headed households.

The paper uses the demographic pressure, market price incentives theories and other mediating conditions, namely: environmental, techno‐managerial, political economic and institutional. In addition, information from a household survey undertaken in 2002 among 196 and 56 male‐ and female‐headed households, respectively, in 12 randomly selected localities. A multiple regression model is used to examine the role of population and other determinants in food crop production.

Population predicts food crop production in male‐headed households. In addition, contrary to some research findings that agricultural output remains low as a result of access to land, labour, farm equipment and information in female‐headed households, this paper shows otherwise.

Female‐headed households in the transitional agro‐ecological zone produced more maize, owned more land, earned more from sale of maize, allowed for more years of land to fallow, used more inorganic fertiliser on their farms, cropped more agricultural land and cropped maize on soils with better water absorption capacity, compared to male‐headed households. Future research is needed in the savannah and forest zones of Ghana, to ascertain whether these scenarios also pertain to those agro‐ecological zones.

Female subsistence farmers should be supported, since that could go a long way in helping Ghana achieve its goal of attaining a middle‐income status in the shortest possible time.

The paper contributes to the debate on the increasing role of women in agriculture.

This study aims to analyse the role of zakat in poverty alleviation and income inequality reduction based on the gender of zakat recipients.

This study used the Centre of Islamic Economic and Business Studies (CIBEST) model as a poverty measure and the Gini coefficient and Atkinson index as income inequality measures to analyse 1,300 zakat recipients in five different areas of West Java, Indonesia.

Based on the CIBEST model, zakat distribution programmes have better salutary effects on male-headed households in terms of material (0.215) and absolute (0.037) poverty indices, whereas female-headed households have better performance on the falah (0.438) and spiritual (0.022) poverty indices, with greater changes in these indices in female-headed households. According to the Gini coefficient and Atkinson index, female-headed households have better income distribution one-year after zakat distribution programmes, whereas the male-headed households have better performance in regards to welfare loss.

The present study only used the poverty line standard published by the Central Board of Statistics from the Republic of Indonesia to identify respondents who live under the poverty line.

This paper can serve as a reference for zakat institutions in the implementation of zakat distribution programmes when the gender of zakat recipients is taken into consideration.

Not many studies have analysed the impact of gender in zakat distribution programmes despite gender being one of the most important determinants of poverty and income inequality. This study attempts to determine the economic impact of zakat from the perspective of gender.

Although the theory of cumulative causation posits a “saturation point” at which all members of a rural community who are potential transnational migrants will have migrated, in the case of dynamic out-migration centers, this saturation point may never be reached. This is because growth centers – the growth often having been propelled by wages and remittances of prior migrants – attract in-migrants from poorer, less dynamic, surrounding ranchos that eventually become incorporated in transnational migration networks of the more dynamic rancho. It is also due to intermarriage as well as friendship and ritual kinship ties between members of the core rancho and surrounding ranchos.

The purpose of this study is to examine household food gap and food insecurity in Eastern Ethiopia. Differences in food gap and food insecurity were also examined in terms of gender of the household head and location.

A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods such as household survey, key informant interview and focused group discussion were utilized for this study. Households were drawn randomly from the study area.

In terms of food availability, more than half of the households experienced a food gap during the year, especially during the months of July and August. In terms of gender, female-headed households had more months of food shortage compared to their male counterparts. This disparity was also reflected in poorer food access among female-headed households as shown by the higher HFIAS. Differences in food insecurity were obtained in terms of gender of the household head and location. Livestock ownership, cereal crop production, extension contact and household size significantly influenced household food access.

Findings are valid only for low-land agroecologies

This study contributes to the existing literature by examining household food gap and food insecurity using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. It adds value in examining disparities between male-headed and female-headed households. Literature related to seasonal household food insecurity is limited in Ethiopia. This study contributes in this regard by examining seasonal food insecurity between post-harvest and pre-harvest seasons.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on microcredit impacts by quantifying the gender disaggregated effects of long-term borrowing on capital accumulation in order to address the existing gap. Separate models are estimated for male-headed and female-headed households to determine if the effects of microcredit differ between these gender types.

The paper adopts the method proposed by Deaton (1990) in which he specifies a model without borrowing restrictions whereby the household maximizes an inter-temporal utility function. To account for self-selection and endogeneity of micro credit, the fixed effects instrumental variable approach is used. Data are disaggregated by gender and analyzed separately.

The paper finds that micro credit indeed increases productive assets and human capital but has no significant effect on non-productive assets. One striking result is that after disaggregating the data by gender, the authors find no effect of micro credit on women-headed households.

The paper provides an empirical evidence for the need to address gender issues in finance and lending. Furthermore, targeted lending particularly to women makes a great difference in the fight against poverty.

This paper fills the gap on gender and micro credit impacts on capital accumulation in a developing country context.