This journal paper led by the United Nations Environment Programme – International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), published in Sustainable Development (online 22 April 2025), examines the association between women’s intra-household decision-making regarding crop choice and household dietary diversity and explores the differential mediating roles among various crop types. The study is based on a household survey conducted in collaboration with researchers from Cambodia, China, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand to obtain data from 1,133 households across these five Asian countries. It is found that women’s decision-making power regarding crop choice is low, but can still promote household dietary diversity, with vegetable diversity playing an important mediating role in this relationship.
The findings contribute to the synergistic benefits of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Particularly, they indicate that enhancing women’s intra-household decision-making regarding crop choice can be a lever to trigger co-benefits among SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 15 (Life on Land), especially in Asia where women are often characterized by high participation but limited decision-making in agricultural activities. The critical role of women in achieving SDG synergies is indeed crucial for vulnerable areas in developing Asian countries, where large number of people suffer from food insecurity and agrobiodiversity conservation is a serious challenge.
Several implications can be drawn from the findings. First, women’s decision power regarding crop choice, as a key aspect of women’s empowerment, is an efficient driver for improving dietary diversity in vulnerable areas of Asian countries. Second, the mediating role of vegetable diversity indicates the importance of women’s intra-household decision-making regarding crop choice as a lever to achieve co-benefits among gender equality, zero hunger, and agrobiodiversity conservation, which are all fundamental SDG targets. Third, the finding that the diversity of vegetable species—rather than other crop types—plays a mediating role in this relationship implies that tailored interventions promoting vegetable diversity through women’s empowerment could enhance food security in vulnerable Asian areas.
The paper can be accessed from here.