Indigenous Women and Food Security

Indigenous Women and Food Security

judy a. pasimio

In the time of pandemic, there is a significant increase in the number of indigenous women and girls who are hungrier, have no capacity to stock up food, and experience food insecurity. It was during the lockdown that the communities felt more than ever the impacts of climate change on their food production, and how corporate control over their land and natural resources within their ancestral domain diminished their food sources. It was during the lockdown that they felt more than ever state neglect. While there is a significant number of indigenous women who said that they have received support from the local government unit, most of them responded that they received support only once, or that the support they got was not enough.

Through all these difficulties, it is the women - in their role as mothers, older sister, or grandmother- who are considered the primary responsible for putting food on the table.

'Indigenous Women and Food Security' is part of the Sectoral Monitoring on the Situation of Indigenous Women and Girls during the COVID-19 Pandemic by LILAK (Purple Action for Indigenous Women’s Rights) and the Commission on Human Rights Gender Equality and Women’s Rights Center, published on April 20, 2022.