After decades of international development efforts aimed at alleviating poverty and hunger, the gender gap in household food security among farming households remains alarming. Many smallholder farmers in Malawi do not have access to material and socio-cultural resources to increase their food production, but women face more barriers due to social gendered norms and practices. Using household level data from Malawi, this study applies a feminist political ecology framework to investigate the factors that inhibit food security in farming households. Results suggest that female-headed households are more likely to be food insecure. However, when variables representing different forms of power were controlled, gender of the household head lost statistical significance. These findings suggest that various forms of gendered rights and responsibilities (e.g., land, labor and capital) in Malawi may be structuring the total effect of food insecurity in farmer households, however more research is needed to confirm this. Women farmers have multiple roles to play as a producer, reproducer and consumer, that differ substantially from men's practice as farmers. Understanding the gendered differences in power, by uncovering the barriers and access to productive resources and knowledge along multiple levels, is critical to creating a gender-equitable food system.
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