A Gender Approach to Time and Food Security: A Case Study of Egypt

Abstract Women’s subsistence contribution to household food security is undeniable. However, due to dominance of capital bias in most labour economies, rural women in particular lack agency to improve capacities and access to the resources and opportunities they need to be more productive. This knowledge gap is the subject of many studies in sustainable agriculture development and gender equity. Although the general consensus necessitates policy interventions targeting the gender gap in agriculture resources, within the Egyptian national context, not enough research has been dedicated to quantifying the importance of women subsistence agricultural labour. This article seeks to statistically analyse women’s roles in subsistence agriculture, estimated by a national time-use survey conducted in 2018. The goal is to highlight their capacity to contribute to the food and nutrition security in Egypt and qualify real impact of rural females’ subsistence agriculture labour on rural household food security verses that of rural males. This will contribute to the debate that investigating in rural females in agriculture promotes rural community sustainability and highlight their capacity for agricultural production.