Gender, food and nutrition security and vulnerability: the Thousand Women Program in focus

Gender inequality is revealed in the issues of education, income and access to Food and Nutrition Security. In Brazil, the National Women Thousand Program aims to intensify the process of regional and institutional development by improving the access of women in situations of social vulnerability to education and the world of work. The objective is to analyze the contribution of the Programa Nacional Mulheres Mil's to reduce vulnerability to food insecurity of households headed by woman. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to 384 participants, which contained the demographic and socioeconomic variables as well as the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale. It was observed that, although there was no change in the Food Security situation, there were significant differences in relation to income, especially among women in situation of food insecurity, varying from 20.5% to 46% the number of participants with an income range higher than one minimum wage. The advance in the identified income was not enough to intervene in Food Insecurity. Further research should be carried out in order to deepen the understanding of the relationships between income, education and food and nutritional security, especially from the point of view of actions directed at the female gender.