Impact of women's empowerment on household vulnerability to food insecurity within the rural economy of Pakistan

Empowering women living in the rural economies of the developing world is important to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural households to food insecurity. Despite the existing literature on food insecurity, only a few studies have investigated household vulnerability to food insecurity - important for devising policies and strategies to eradicate food insecurity. This study aims to evaluate the impact of rural women's empowerment in reducing household's vulnerability to food insecurity using a household vulnerability to food insecurity index (HVFII) and a rural women composite empowerment index (RWCEI) which has multiple domains Data from the Pakistan rural household panel survey data of 1868 farming households was analysed using a multi-level mixed effects ordered logistic approach. Descriptive statistics indicate that 33% and 14% of households face severe to mild vulnerability to food insecurity respectively. Of all the domains, rural women are particularly disempowered in economic autonomy and education. Multi-level modelling demonstrated that women's empowerment overall has positive and significant impact in mitigating the risks related to household food insecurity. Other factors included age of the head of household, and accessing a safety net program, and community infrastructure. The study suggests that those responsible for mitigating household vulnerability to food insecurity in rural Pakistan should specifically focus on empowering women, particularly helping them to be economically autonomous, and providing more information on health and food.