Food insecurity and employment income: considerations regarding gender inequalities

To investigate the associations among income from work, the gender of the reference person, family and food insecurity (FI).

This quantitative study used nationally representative data from the 2018 Brazilian Family Budget Survey.

The analyses estimated levels of food security and insecurity measured by the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale according to labour income determined by the minimum wage per capita and the sex of the reference person (female/male). The logistic regression model measured the interaction between work income and gender in association with household FI.

Brazilian families living in permanent households with at least one resident earning income from employment (n 48 625).

Households headed by women and with labour income ≤ ¼ minimum wage per capita had the highest percentage of moderate/severe FI (29·7 %). In these families and households with lower levels of employment income headed by men, the highest probabilities of moderate/severe FI were observed, at 10·8 and 9·6, respectively, compared with families with higher levels of employment income headed by men.

Lower employment income contributes to FI in families, especially those that are headed by women. The socialisation of care work and the reduction in paid labour hours contribute to greater access to the labour market for women and a lower likelihood of FI.