Across the region, rural and working-class women shoulder the burden of unpaid care work, from food production and preparation to managing nutrition and household survival amid worsening droughts, floods, and price hikes. This critical labour is seldom acknowledged in economic or policy frameworks.
This paper proposes a transformative solution: adopting a care economy approach grounded in feminist ecological economics and feminist political ecology. Such an approach recognises that care—both as work and as a value—is foundational to food sovereignty, human wellbeing, and ecological resilience.
The document calls for a policy shift away from market-driven, productivity-focused models that treat women as agricultural inputs. Instead, it advocates for systems that:
- Recognise and redistribute care responsibilities
- Invest in agroecological farming and community food provisioning
- Integrate food systems with health, social, and economic policies
- Center participation of women as key agents in climate adaptation
A food system built on care is one that prioritises dignity, sustainability, and justice. It moves beyond framing women as beneficiaries and sees them as architects of resilience. As the climate crisis deepens, so too must our commitment to reshaping food systems to reflect the value of care—for people and for nature.