Women's empowerment leads to healthier people, animals and environments

Abstract

Inequalities between women and men stem from both formal and informal norms and rules that make gender distinctions. Such distinctions affect, for example, women and men’s roles, work, and control over assets. Understanding–and sometimes harnessing–gender differences help to tackle problems arising at the interfaces of animal, human and environment health. Women and men (across age, ethnicity, etc.) are involved in or are excluded from different segments of food value chains, exposing them differently to zoonotic and foodborne risks. It is important to specifically target women because they are often excluded from policies and programs aiming to enhance human, animal and environment health.