“ No somos iguales”: The effect of household economic standing on women's energy intake in the Andes

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between women's food consumption and household economic standing in a small farming community in the southern Peruvian Andes. It is motivated by villagers’ comments—“ no somos iguales”—about economic inequality within the community and explores the nutritional consequences of this disparity. Analyses of energy intake, measured seasonally by the food-weighing technique, show that women in poorer households experience energy deprivation during the pre-harvest season but better-off women do not. During the rest of the year, women in both economic groups have statistically similar intakes of energy. Energy deprivation among poorer women is associated with a lack of money to purchase adequate amounts of commercial foods when the supply of local foods dwindles. The analyses indicate that in this agricultural community, being “cash poor” is a more sensitive predictor of nutritional risk among women than are landholdings. Despite the veneer of widespread poverty, this study supports villager views that households are not equal and contributes to our understanding of differences among rural Andean women.