The article, published in the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security, is co-authored with Jemimah Njuki of the International Development Research Centre in Nairobi and ODID's Helena Mika.

An understanding of the potential intersections bewteen gender, food security and lockdown measures is crucial for a gender-sensitive response that ensures both women’s own food security and their ability to safely perform crucial roles in the food value chain.

The article draws on evidence from past health crises, reports from the COVID-19 pandemic, and literature on gender and food security to draw out potential gendered effects across four nodes: production, processing, trading, and consumption.

It analyses how gendered structures can lead to an increase in women’s care work, an increase in women’s agricultural work in substitution for import-restricted inputs, a disproportionate financial effect due to women’s prevalence in local markets and street vendor sectors, and consequent health effects due to women’s central role in food preparation and household nutrition.

Cheryl Doss, Jemimah Njuki and Helena Mika (2020) ‘The potential intersections of COVID-19, gender and food security in Africa’, Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security 5 (1): 41–8 doi:10.19268/JGAFS.512020.4