Gender and the Experience of Hunger: The Role of Male and Female Headship in the Prevalence of Food Insecurity in Chile.

Food insecurity refers to the lack of regular and sufficient access to food, a deficiency that has affected significant population groups worldwide and has increased in recent years. Several studies indicate that it affects men and women differently, revealing structural inequalities in our societies. In this context, this paper aims to analyze the prevalence of food insecurity in Chile according to the gender of the head of household, hypothesizing that it will be significantly higher in households headed by women than in those headed by men. With this objective in mind, we analyzed data on the experience of food insecurity in Chilean households using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). This scale asks whether, in the last 12 months, due to lack of resources, any member of the household has experienced different situations associated with lack of food. The FIES distinguishes between mild, moderate, and severe food insecurity and was incorporated in the Chilean Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN) in 2017 and 2022.
The differences between the prevalence of food insecurity between households headed by men and women, being higher in the latter, show that gender is a relevant factor to consider in access to food and food justice.