1. “Equality for Women is Progress for All”
Celebrating International Women’s Day 2014

2. Photo © HKI/ Bartay
SETTNG THE CONTEXT
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3. •Bangladesh has made significant
advances towards gender equality
√ More girls than boys attend high school
√ Significant reductions in maternal and child
mortality rates
√ Millions of women employed in formal, paid
sector
GENDER EQUALITY IN BANGLADESH
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4. •Gender norms are sociocultural
artifacts
•Members of a culture share
knowledge – Men AND Women
•Knowledge and attitudes influence
decision-making and behavior at
macro and micro level
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER
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5. Men who have more gender equitable attitudes are less
likely to engage in or condone domestic and sexual violence
HOWEVER
• 60% of urban and 62% of rural men believe that a woman
deserves to be beaten at times
• 50% of urban and 65% of rural men believe women
should tolerate violence to keep her family together
• 87% of women in Bangladesh have experienced domestic
violence
GENDER EQUITABLE ATTITUDES
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6. Photo © HKI
NUTRITION SITUATION
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7. • Responsible for 45% of deaths for children
under 5 years of age
• Fetal growth restriction increases risk of
stunting by 24 months of age
• Estimated to reduce a nation’s economic
advancement by at least 8%
– Direct productivity losses
– Losses via poorer cognition
– Losses via reduced schooling
UNDERNUTRITION
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8. • 60% of women (19-49) consume diets
inadequate in macro and micronutrients
• 30% of adolescent girls (10-18) short for
their age
• 40% of adolescent girls (10-18)
underweight
FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION SURVEILLANCE PROJECT 2012
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Over 27,000 women and girls
interviewed and measured

9. Undernutrition Cycle in Bangladesh
45% of adolescent girls (15-19) are
married and cohabitating
24% of married
adolescent girls and
women are
undernourished and
13% are of short
stature
54% of married
adolescent girls have
at least one child
Short stature, undernourishment, and adolescence are
all risk factors for fetal growth restriction, low birth
weight babies, and other adverse pregnancy and birth
outcomes.

10. Nutrition Situation in Bangladesh
for Children under Five
36% Underweight
41% Stunted
16% Wasted

11. • Women’s diets lack diversity, resulting in low micronutrient
intake and malnourishment.
• Babies are born to undernourished mothers.
• Many of those mothers are adolescents and babies are born
with low birth weight.
• Babies born with low birth weight are more susceptible to
the effects of malnutrition and at higher risk of morbidity.
• Those babies grow up to be undernourished.
• Females have an almost 50% chance of being married with
one baby before they reach the age of 20.
• Low decision-making power in the household.
INTERGENERATIONAL CYCLE OF MALNUTRITION AND GENDER
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12. • FSNSP 2012 found more adult women to be overweight
(35%) than underweight (20%)
• Nutritional status of ever-married women from FSNSP 2007-
2012 revealed a trend toward the “double burden of
malnutrition”
DOUBLE BURDEN OF MALNUTRITION
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33%
32%
30%
29%
27%
26%
25% 23%
20%
18% 19%
20%
22%
24%
26%
28%
30%
35%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
BDHS BDHS FSNSP FSNSP
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Women's CED (BMI < 18.5) Women's overweight (BMI > 23.0)

13. NUTRITION ACTIVITIES MAPPING
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0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
GMP
SAM/MAM
MN
AN
IYCF
PCA
PCD
NCSC
PCVAD
PCCD
MMS
PCIDD
FF
NEP
EPRN
ECD
NCD
FQ/FS
WASH
FSLCP
ISP
Other
Number of Project per Nutrition
Intervention

14. Photo © HKI
AGRICULTURE INTERVENTIONS AND NUTRITION
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15. Six pathways through which agriculture interventions
can affect nutrition (Ruel and Alderman 2013):
1) Agriculture as a source of food for own consumption
2) Agriculture as a source of income
3) Impact of agriculture policies on price of food and nonfood crops
4) Effect of women’s social status and empowerment on their access to
and control over resources
5) Impact of women’s participation in agriculture on their time allocation
6) Impact of women’s participation in agriculture on their health and
nutrition status
KEY FACTOR: Whether agriculture intervention enhances women’s
control over assets
SECTION 3: SOLUTION
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16. 16

18. Photo © HKI/ Bartay
INTEGRATNG GENDER
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19. • GENDER IS INTEGRATED!
• How do we, as partners in development, work with the existing
gender structure to ensure impact and sustainability?
• “Gender mainstreaming does not entail developing separate
women’s projects within work programmes, or even women’s
components within existing activities in the work programmes. It
requires that attention is given to gender perspectives as an
integral part of all activities across all programmes. This involves
making gender perspectives – what women and men do and the
resources and decision-making processes they have access to –
more central to all policy development, research, advocacy,
development, implementation and monitoring of norms and
standards, and planning, implementation and monitoring of
projects.” – United Nations
INTEGRATING GENDER?
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20. • Gender is a key dimension to linking agriculture programs to improved
nutrition and health
• Invest in investigating at the beginning, during project design
• Gender is not just targeting women or targeting men, focus on the
system and on that determines gender roles and responsibilities, access
to and control over resources, and decision-making potentials
RECAP
In Summary
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21. Transforming gender norms is
transforming society.
THANK YOU.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it.”
-Helen Keller
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