Sarah Kalloch’s blog is cross-posted from Women Thrive Worldwide. Oxfam America is working with women’s groups that are actively working on ending violence against women and making links between violence against women and food security. 

World Food Day—October 16—falls right in the middle of Domestic Violence Awareness month. At first the connection between the two might seem tenuous. But as Oxfam’s GROW Campaign eloquently argues, “Hunger isn’t about too many people and too little food. Hunger is about inequality. And women and girls face the greatest inequalities of all”. When women are hungry, they are forced to make impossible choices and take untenable chances that make them vulnerable to violence.

Women grow the majority of the world’s food—and are also the majority of the world’s hungry because of vast inequalities in resources and power. Women farmers in the US still face a “grass ceiling”—denied access to billions in loans from the USDA.  And the situation is worse in developing countries, where women face discrimination in land ownership, lack of education, and little access to the capital, technology, and markets needed to make a living on the land. Women could feed up to 150 million more people if they had the same agricultural resources as men, according to a United Nations report.

But before women feed the world, they must feed themselves and their families—a simple act which exposes them up to violence, rape and abuse.

• In Bangladesh, women in households with lower food security are more at risk for physical and emotional abuse.
• Women in Bostwana who did not have enough to eat were twice as likely to have sold sex and were more likely to report a lack of control in sexual relationships.
• Women displaced by conflict in Darfur face further violence when they go to gather firewood and water.
• When food rations were cut at refugee camps in Tanzania in 2005, the World Food Program warned of an increased violence against women as women ventured further afield to feed their families and tensions rose in hungry households.
• Women from Canada to the Congo who have left abusive relationship or been victims of violence are often left economically vulnerable and food insecure.

This month, join Oxfam’s GROW Campaign and hold a WFD dinner with friends and family. Take time to talk about the amazing culture, community and power of food. Food security is human security. Women feed the world—they deserve the chance to feed their families free of violence.

Even if all the corn grown in the US was used for fuel, it would replace only one out of six gallons.

Ethanol has been touted as the solution to our energy and climate crises. But, turning corn into fuel only compounds global hunger. America cannot build our own energy security on the back of people living in poverty—it is morally indefensible and wrong for our own energy, climate, and national security interests. We have an opportunity right now to press the pause button on misguided US corn ethanol policy by telling the EPA to waive the corn ethanol mandate.

Ethanol is not the answer to our oil dependency. Even if all the corn grown in the US was used for fuel, it would replace only one out of six gallons. Ethanol is also not the answer to our changing climate—which itself is driving food prices higher. Corn sounds all natural, but between massive changes in land use needed to grow corn for fuel and the energy costs to process that corn into ethanol, it is hardly greenhouse gas neutral.

Meanwhile, ethanol is contributing to global hunger. Last year, 40 percent of corn grown in the US went to fuel instead of food. If all the land used to grow biofuels for the EU in 2008 had instead been used to grow food, it could have fed 127 million people for an entire year. Major land grabs are happening all over the world, often propelled by the market’s demand for biofuels, leaving marginalized communities without access to traditional land and water to grow food.

Hunger is a moral issue, an economic issue, a health issue, and a national security issue. There were riots around the world in 2008 when food prices spiked. Right now, Yemen is in the grips of a terrible food crisis—almost half of the population is hungry, including one million children. It is not in our national security interest to have people starving in Yemen or in any fragile state.

The governors of North Carolina and Arkansas have asked the EPA to waive the renewable fuel standards mandate, which requires at least 10 percent of unleaded gasoline be made from ethanol. Waiving the corn ethanol mandate will lead to an estimated 7.4 percent drop in global corn prices, which will in turn lower prices for meat, milk, eggs, and more. For people living in poverty who spend up to 75 percent of their income on food, this small change can make a big impact.

The EPA has opened up a public comment period on the waiver, which ends October 11, and so far, more than 5,000 Oxfam supporters have responded. Send in a comment today and stand up for the one billion people who go to bed hungry every day.

Credit: Oxfam America Action Corps and  Grazioso Pictures Inc.

Last week, I managed an (almost) zero mile meal. My backyard chickens provided eggs for a crustless quiche, flavored by garden-grown cherry tomatoes and basil, with freshly dug roasted potatoes on the side. The food was all local—almost. You need olive oil, salt and pepper to flavor, well, everything. And for dessert there was coffee and chocolate, wonderful foods that don’t grow so well in Massachusetts—but that do come in fair trade varieties that ensure small-scale farmers and farm workers around the world get a fair deal.

The meal was a reminder that “Eating Local” is just one part of the food justice equation. Buying fair trade is another. And there are many more. As Oxfam prepares to mark World Food Day on October 16, we’re thinking a lot about all the components of food justice. We hope you’ll do the same by holding a World Food Day meal and talking about how you can fight world hunger from your kitchen table.

Oxfam’s GROW Campaign recently released a report, Food Transformations, which detailed the power of consumers to contribute to global food security. For instance, meat production alone takes up eight percent of the world’s water supply. If a family of four substituted lentil burgers for beef burgers for just one night, they would save the equivalent of 17 bathtubs full of water. That is a small change with a powerful impact. To help consumers harness this power, Oxfam has launched the GROW Method, five easy ways to feed your family healthy and delicious meals while ensuring everyone on the planet has enough to eat, always.

The steps seem simple and straightforward: waste less food, eat local and seasonal, support small farmers worldwide, eat less meat, and cook smart. But nothing is simple when it comes to the politics of  the plate. When the USDA raised the idea of employees participating in Meatless Monday this summer, it sparked a political firestorm. Meanwhile, a stalled Farm Bill threatens to harm food security from Michigan to Mali, and ethanol mandates are requiring much needed food to be used as fuel. As food prices rise and Oxfam and other organizations warn of a potential global food crisis, the price of political and personal inaction also rises. Order our free World Food Day 2012 resources, and consider holding a World Food Day Meal to celebrate the culture and community, power and politics of food.

If none of us knew where we would be born, if we would be rich or poor, healthy or ill, male or female, short or tall, American or Kenyan or Indian or Chilean, what human rights would we want to have respected? That is the question posed by political theorist John Rawls, whose work redefined how we conceive of human rights, fate, and fairness. From behind that “veil of ignorance”, Rawls asked, what standards would we set for the world?

This week, to mark International Women’s Day, Oxfam celebrated the amazing contributions of two women—Anna Oloshuro Okaro and Kristin Davis. Anna and Kristin were born into different worlds; Anna was born a Masai woman in Tanzania, while Kristin was a white woman in America. And these two women have led dramatically different lives; Anna lost everything after a difficult divorce, while Kristin became world famous for her role as Charlotte York Goldenblatt in Sex and the City.

After Anna’s divorce, she fought cultural norms and laws to rebuild her life—and advocated for all women in her community to have better access to education and the right to own livestock and land. An Oxfam Global Ambassador since 2004, Kristin Davis has shone a spotlight on the worst humanitarian crises facing the world—from the tsunami in Asia to the earthquake in Haiti to the famine in East Africa—and has been a tireless advocate for women, men, and communities in crisis.

Despite all that separates them, Anna and Kristin’s paths have crossed in profound ways—and the world is much, much better for it. Last year, Kristin traveled to Tanzania with Oxfam and met Anna, her family, and her herd of cattle, sheep, and goats. Wednesday night, together on Capitol Hill, Anna and Kristin were awarded the Oxfam Women’s Leadership Award for their amazing work to advocate for women worldwide and change the rules and laws that keep women trapped in poverty.

Kristin and Anna are not alone. They were joined by 70+ Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors and supporters who convened in Washington for Oxfam’s International Women’s Day Summit and subsequent Lobby Day. Like Kristin and Anna, these women came from all walks of life: they included authors, fighter pilots, politicians, farmers, faith leaders, professors, entrepreneurs, chefs, and leaders of national non-profit organizations. Representing more than 30 states and from across the globe, they came together to ensure that US policy supports women’s ability to access the resources and rights they need to feed the world—a key component of Oxfam’s GROW campaign.

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama, gave an inspiring keynote speech at Wednesday’s Summit. Yesterday, on International Women’s Day itself, we flexed our considerable muscle. In over 100 meetings on Capitol Hill, our Ambassadors asked Congress to support Feed the Future, which builds the capacity of small scale women farmers, and to reform food aid to include expanded regional and local purchase options.

Women living in poverty do not have $1million to donate to a Super PAC, but yesterday, they had 70+ women using their considerable passion, voice, and influence to speak to the some of the most powerful people in the world about improving US policy so women worldwide can feed their families and communities. As Anna said, “If we raise the voices of women and ensure they have the resources and rights that they are due, anything is possible.”

A more complete wrap up of Oxfam’s efforts around International Women’s Day coming tomorrow. But for now, a treat from the White House blog and our keynote speaker, Valerie Jarrett.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/08/working-oxfam-fight-hunger-around-world

This morning, I had the opportunity to address Oxfam’s Sister Ambassadors at their International Women’s Day Summit in Washington, D.C. I was proud to be able to say that over the last three years, our work with organizations like Oxfam has resulted in more international support for food security, more game-changing innovations, and most importantly, more people living without hunger.

President Obama believes that the United States must fight hunger, both at home and abroad, and he believes we can only win that fight if we empower women to be true agents of change. From the day he took office, the President has worked to, as he has put it, “strengthen our common security by investing in our common humanity.”

Read the full blog here.

Actor Kristin Davis, Oxfam America President Ray Offenheiser, and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett. Photo: Shiloh Strong/ Oxfam

The truth is that in the villages women work very hard. At times they work for 12 to 14 hours a day. They even work on Sundays and public holidays. Women who live in the villages work harder than anybody else…

-Former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere

March 8 marks the 101st International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD is not a typical Hallmark moment in the US (though you can honor a special woman in your life with an Oxfam E-card). But in many countries, it is a national holiday. And in China, Nepal, and Madagascar, only women get the day off—which is ironic for many women living in poverty, for whom there is no such thing as a day off.

When many Americans picture a farmer, they see a man, possibly in overalls, frequently on a tractor, often in Iowa (I’ve asked a lot of audiences this question—that is what I always get in response). But the truth is that every day, holiday or not, women work hard to feed their families—and the world. In sub-Saharan African countries, women constitute 75% of the agricultural workers. Across all developing countries, the average is 43%.

Women can help set a table for 9 billion people by 2050, but they need two things: resources and rights. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, if women had access to the same resources as men, they could potentially feed 100-150 million more people. If women’s rights to land, education and other key inputs were respected, they could set a bountiful table. So if you want to honor women on IWD, the real gift is equal access to rights and resources.

On March 8, over 75 women leaders from the US and around the world will convene in Washington for Oxfam’s International Women’s Day Summit. These amazing women—leaders from the business, non-profit, political, faith, military, and philanthropic sectors—will walk the halls of Capitol Hill, urging the US government to help women access the resources and rights they need to feed the world. Oxfam will focus on two policy innovations that will help women farmers build their capacity and access markets while increasing global food security:

Support Feed the Future: President Obama’s 2013 budget includes $1.2 billion for Feed the Future, a program that invests in farmers—especially women—to improve agricultural productivity, build resilience to climate change, expand markets and trade, and increase economic resilience in vulnerable rural communities.

Reform Food Aid: As Farm Bill hearings start in DC, Oxfam is advocating to increase regional and local purchase of food aid and end give-aways to commodity and shipping interests that come at the expense of women and communities worldwide. These reforms can cut costs, save more lives, and ensure our aid helps build self-reliance and enable local farmers—inducing women—to thrive.

So this IWD, let’s forget roses and start a new tradition that gives women what they really deserve: a level playing field and the rights and resources they need to set the table not just for their families, but for the world.

Oxfam supporters participate in World Food Day. Photo by Irene Perlman. http://gallery.me.com/ileneperlman#101167/Oxfam-20Farm-20Mark-0220&bgcolor=black

“We have failed to end hunger using the traditional recipe that saw hunger as a technical problem, requiring only that we produce more. We’ve failed because we’ve underestimated the need to empower people and hold governments accountable.”

- Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food

World Food Day 2011 marked the GROW campaign’s biggest effort yet to upend the traditional recipe for hunger relief and empower Americans to hold the US government accountable for a more just food system. In the face of economic challenges in the US, turmoil in Europe, conflict in Libya, and other major world events, the prospect of making World Food Day a tangible and real moment for Americans seemed daunting when we first started planning. Yet, on World Food Day, we learned that US citizens do care about global food justice. They joined us by the thousands, bringing GROW messages to communities across the country.

Oxfam’s World Food Day celebration had two main aims: to support the GROW campaign’s five policy goals and to boost the campaign’s central goal of supporting the burgeoning food justice movement worldwide. Indeed, the two purposes go hand and hand. GROW’s policy goals take aim at powerful special interests–like Big Ag and the US maritime industry around food aid reform, Wall Street around agricultural speculation, and companies and countries around land grabs. Without active engagement by people who care about repairing our broken food system, these special interests will win—and people living in poverty will keep losing.

Case in point: the way supporters of Big Ag in Congress recently tried to push through the Farm Bill without any democratic debate in an effort to avoid real reform. The kind of national support for food justice that World Food Day generated is increasingly important not only to advocate for effective policies like Feed The Future, but to stop bad policy and bad process, exemplified in the rushed Farm Bill, that harm the poor.

The results of World Food Day were impressive:

• More than 9,700+ people attended 400+ Sunday Dinner conversations in 42 states and four countries.
• Oxfam volunteers tabled at 60 Farmers Markets nation-wide—engaging communities on the GROW Campaign.
• At the World Food Prize in Iowa, Oxfam hosted two women farmers from Ethiopia and Colombia, and supported nine events attended by about 750 people.

• Oxfam’s World Food Day celebration was truly global: People all over the world participated in events, awards and actions during Oxfam’s GROW week.

Not only did Oxfam supporters start conversations in their communities, but they also sent Congress a strong message that cutting poverty-focused foreign assistance will harm global food security. Cuts to foreign aid would decimate both capacity-building programs that help small-scale farmers feed their communities and emergency food aid that saves lives during crises.

• Activists collected 2,400 petition signatures at Sunday Dinners and Farmers Markets and Oxfam online supporters sent 7,838 emails urging Congress not to cut poverty-focused development assistance.

• 15 Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors, business leaders and military veterans had 22 meetings on Capitol Hill – including 11 meetings with their Senators and Members of Congress—and secured committements from several to support strong foreign aid that will help improve food security on World Food Day–and every day.

In the face of the Super Committee implosion this week, Oxfam supporters are out in force demanding that Congress protect life-saving foreign aid.

1. This month, Oxfam volunteers will deliver more than 22,000 petition signatures from all 50 states to Members of Congress in support of foreign aid. Oxfam Action Corps and CHANGE leaders have visited Congressional offices in 20+ states so far, dropping off petition signatures and mountains of sweet potatoes, with the message “Don’t Uproot Foreign Aid”. Why sweet potatoes? Because as Americans sit down to sweet potato pie on Thanksgiving, small scale farmers across Africa are reaping the benefits of this nutrient-rich crop, supported by the very capacity-building foreign aid programs now on the chopping block.

2. This week, three Oxfam Sisters on the Planet had letters to the editor published in Iowa, Washington, and Wisconsin, each with a unique perspective on the benefits of foreign aid to the US and the world:

• Sisters on the Planet Ambassador and leading women’s right advocate Bonnie Campbell wrote a letter to the editor of the Des Moines Register emphasizing how foreign aid builds the capacity of small-scale farmers—especially women. Farmers from the Hawkeye State understand the blueprint for agricultural success— land, equipment, education, seeds, capital, and good government policy. Likewise, foreign policy that supports the entrepreneurial spirit of small farmers in the developing world is central to making sure the world can feed nine billion people by 2050.

Sisters on the Planet Ambassador Sonia Kendrick, Senator Grassley (IA), Sisters on the Planet Ambassador Bonnie Campbell, and Sarah Kalloch. Photo by Oxfam.

• Sisters on the Planet Ambassador Patti Southard highlighted the value of foreign aid to the economy of Washington in her letter to the Seattle Times. Patti wrote about the millions of lives worldwide the aid has saved—and the the $143 million in tax revenue that Washington’s global health sector contributes annually to state and local government.

• Oxfam partner Robin Eckstein, a veteran who served in Iraq and volunteers with the Truman National Security Project, wrote a letter to the editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent in Wisconsin that tied international development to national security.

Robin wrote, “Programs that help teach people to grow food, provide basic medical care and improve living situations stabilize countries. This keeps our military out of places that could become unstable breeding grounds for terrorists and require military intervention….Soldiers, like me, who had boots on the ground in a war also know that seeds are cheaper than bullets.”

GOP Presidential candidates have called for drastic cuts in all foreign aid—with a few saying they would start the budget at $0. These letters are a great reminder to the American people that the less than one percent of the US budget that goes to foreign aid not only strengthens the developing world, but also strengthens our own economy and our own national security. That is one percent we can all stand behind.

On Friday November 4, Oxfam Sister on the Planet Ambassador and US Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), introduced a new Congressional Resolution, which recognizes the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and the efforts of women around the world to address this issue.

In her press release, Rep. Lee urged Congress to ensure women are at the center of climate change decision making, saying, “While women are bearing the brunt of climate change’s effects, they are often underrepresented in the development of climate change adaptation policy. This is unacceptable.”

House Resolution 84 is a must-read for anyone who cares about climate change. Women produce much of the food in many poor countries, despite typically having restricted access to markets, land, and credit and less decision-making power at the household and community levels. As a result, they lack access to resources that can help them adapt when drought or floods threaten their harvest. As the agriculture sector gets hit by climate change, it “may lead to migration, refugee crises, and conflicts over scarce natural resources including land and water.” This could in turn affect America’s national security.

Women around the world are leading their countries and communities to innovative climate change solutions. Photo by Ilene Perlman/Oxfam America.

But, the news is not all bad. HR 84 emphasizes “the unique capacity and knowledge (of women) to promote and provide for adaptation to climate change” and urges Congress to leverage this in climate change policy-making and programming. Oxfam has long supported women worldwide combating climate change. Watch this Sisters on the Planet video for stories of women leading their communities and countries to innovative climate change and food security solutions.

Excited about this resolution? So are we! If you have a moment, we encourage you to call Rep. Lee’s office in Washington DC (202-225-2661) and thank her for introducing House Resolution 84 and for her incredible commitment to women and climate change. And leave a comment on this blog to let us know that you took action. After all, it’s not every day that we have a reason to call a Member of Congress and tell them what they’re doing right.

Nine Members of Congress have signed on as original co-sponsors: Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassadors Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) and Rep Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA), Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep Donald Payne (D-NJ), and Rep Jackie Speier (D-CA). If you are in their district, thank them for their commitment to HR 84: call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask for your Representative’s office. Don’t see your Representative? Call them via the Switchboard and tell them to join as a co-sponsor.

Flex your political muscles so that women worldwide have the opportunities to flex theirs. As Rep. Lee remarked, “Women must be included in creating and implementing climate change policies and practices if we hope to help communities adapt to climate impacts and embark on a path towards clean and sustainable development.”

During the dark Massachusetts winters, I dream of freshly-picked tomatoes, warm from the sun, sliced thin, drizzled with olive oil and dusted with salt. This year, I put all my hopes on the Paul Robeson heirloom tomato. For five months, I nurtured a few plants from seed—slowly building up their strength with water, supports, and sun. The reward for all my labors? Six small tomatoes. Delicious, but also a reminder that the food we eat is precious and hard won. And as Oxfam gears up to celebrate World Food Day on October 16, a tomato named after a famed civil rights activist blacklisted by McCarthy also reminds us that food isn’t just about water and sunlight. It’s about politics.

You may think that the politics of poverty happens in Washington, DC. But in reality, it happens in your own home, everyday, when you and your family sit down to eat dinner. You know the numbers: around the world, one in seven people face hunger, even though there is enough food produced to feed everyone on Earth. That is political. Here in the U.S., a record number of Americans are using food stamps, almost 46 million people, while our country records its highest ever number of millionaires. That is political. And in 2008, food prices rose precipitously world-wide, sparking riots in more than 25 countries. That is also political.

As 33rd annual World Food Day approaches, we’re asking you to do something simple yet powerful, something fun, but undeniably political. Oxfam is asking you to engage your family, friends, campus, or community in a Sunday Dinner Conversation this October 16 about where your food comes from, who cultivates it, and how we can make the food system more just and sustainable.

Order your Sunday Dinner materials today, and we’ll send you a set of resources to support your dinner. These resources include placemats profiling four farmers from around the world, recipe cards from famous foodies and chefs, including Mark Bittman and Giada De Laurentiis, and a discussion guide with questions that will have your guests talking about everything from their grandmother’s pumpkin pie to the famine in East Africa. That is the power of food.

There is no silver bullet that is going to fix our broken food system. That is why Oxfam’s GROW campaign is so multi-faceted: from biofuels and climate change to land grabs and food aid, the global food system will change only if many levers move at the same time. The question is who moves those levers. When Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food, began his second term this May, he shared his impressive list of priorities, but cautioned that the priorities on paper will only be realized if “governments follow up on their pledges to support food security, and…broad-based social movements and human rights defenders all over the world continue to demand change.”

You are that social movement, and you have the power to hold our government accountable on food justice issues. Oxfam wants to be able to tell your Senators and Representatives in Washington that hundreds of people in their state held a Sunday Dinner Conversation. That is political power.

Order your materials today, and use the power of your plate to start a conversation that can help end hunger this World Food Day.