Research project
36 | monthsSUFAG

Sustainable food and gender

Related toSpoke 07

Principal investigators
Roberta Dameno,Laura Prosperi
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Highlights

Task involved

Task 7.1.1.

Unveils the economic determinants of food choice and management focusing both on consumers’ behaviour - also considering the perceived value of food - and on companies’ practices and decision processes.

Task 7.1.2.

Aims to widen current knowledge to grasp how dietary choices are affected by social and cultural elements including believes and norms, such as injunctive and subjective norms.

Task 7.4.2.

Basing also on inputs from Spoke 1 new quality requirements for public procurement will be developed: a) implement interplay between public bodies, consumers and selected providers; b) opportunities to networking and partnership among local selected providers to innovate and rebalance typical market-oriented rationales; c) test consumer attitude towards the resultant dietary patterns enhancing balance between supply and consumption.

Task 7.4.3.

Building on task T7.2.3 and WPT7.3, and considering regional differences, this task will develop a set of policies aiming to promote a transition towards healthy and sustainable diets within schools focusing on local and culturally acceptable products and on the promotion of the values of the Mediterranean diet.

Task 7.4.4.

Production of a set of policy-oriented guidelines and set of recommendations based on: (a) current national and international evidence-based; (b) findings and inputs from all tasks and activities, especially WP7.2, WP7.3 and Task 7.3.3; (c) proposals to modify existing legislation; (d) feedback from stakeholders and policymakers.

Project deliverables

D7.1.1.1.

Report on economic determinants of consumers’ sustainable and healthy food choices (M30)

D7.1.2.1.

Report on social determinants of consumers’ food management choices (M32)

D7.4.2.1.

Development or implementation of at least one six-month/one-year-long pioneering public procurement model (targeting schools, universities, hospitals, other) (M36)

D7.4.3.2

Strategic guidelines for the implementation of innovative nutrition and lifestyle educational models in public education institution (M36)

D7.4.4.1.

Technical report + dissemination document on policy recommendations (M36)

Interaction with other spokes

State of the art

Gender gap is a crucial element on the international and European political agenda, and it need to be addressed also in relation to food and sustainability. Linked to food, gender is often studied in relation to virtuous nutrition habits, but it is important to address other elements to create effective policies on the sustainability of food. 
This project aims at analyzing how gender and food are linked, not only related to proper nutrition but in different aspects of the food production, governance and consumption. In this research, firstly it will be analyzed how gender is relevant to better understand food security. Then, the reflection will broaden to food production with a particular attention to the steps of production and processing. But also, to other concepts related on one hand, to habits and culture, as cultural tradition, nutritional education and eating habits, and on the other hand, to more classical gender study topics like care and asocial behavior. 
Gender should be understood as a transversal theme relevant to the study of  many aspects of food and sustainability.

Operation plan

This research will focus on:
1. analyze how gender is relevant to the study of food security;
2. analyze how gender is relevant to study the production and the processing of food;
3. analyze the difference in food consumption between genders;
4. study women farms;
5. study the role of women in the “fight against hunger”;
6. investigate a possible behavioral gender gap between men and women in the kitchen.

Expected results

The study aims to highlight the gender gap to offer a useful contribution to creating effective policies and legal norms in terms of sustainability and gender.