Food Security in Urban Households: The Role of Women in an Asian Context

Abstract

Assuring food security is one of the challenges in low and middle-income countries with their rapid urbanization. The role of women has been identified as a key to food security in rural societies, however, yet to make conclusions in an urban setting. Hence this study tries to analyse the role of women in urban households while addressing the context-specific social and cultural differences of women’s role in Asia. The study uses data from Sri Lanka Household Income and Expenditure Survey-2016 and estimates the impact of women's role using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method. The relative status of food security of each household is measured using the Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). The study finds a higher level of food security is associated with a higher level of female education. Similarly, households are more food secure when women are more responsible for household income. Further, it reveals that the economic burden on women being the single income earner has not affected on changing the level of food security in their households.