Gender and youth in food system and nutrition: why evidence matters for decision-making?
Gender groups (particularly women) and youth (defined as those between 15 and 24 years of age) are both highly vulnerable to food insecurity, yet often excluded from decision-making processes that shape food system and nutrition (FSN) programs and policies. As 783 million people face chronic hunger, women represent 60% of the food-insecure, largely due to persistent gender inequalities, harmful norms, and reduced access to resources. Meanwhile, youth are growing into adulthood in systems that are unequal and unsustainable, with poor nutrition in adolescence having long-term health, economic, and productivity impacts. Yet their participation in food and nutrition governance remains limited. Moreover, women and youth are active across all stages of the food system, from farming and caregiving to marketing and retail, yet their contributions remain under-recognized and under-supported. Addressing youth and gender gaps in FSN can reduce stunting, undernutrition, and anemia, while advancing broader goals of empowerment and equality.
Incorporating gender and youth into evidence generation helps identify who is being left out, how interventions impact different groups, and where adaptations are needed. Evidence provides the foundation for mainstreaming: a process of ensuring that gender and youth considerations are integral to every stage of decision-making, from design to evaluation. This approach contributes to improving program effectiveness, equity, and transparency, while avoiding the risks of gender-blind or youth exclusionary policies. It also ensures that policies and programs reflect diverse lived experiences, leading to more inclusive development outcomes.
Evidence-informed decision-making relies on both generating knowledge and using it to transform systems. By highlighting what works, what doesn't, how and why, research can inform targeted, data-driven strategies that contribute simultaneously to food security, nutrition, and the empowerment of women and youth. It also supports accountability and transparency by showing where resources are best directed and where gaps remain.
The lack of evidence on gender and youth: challenges and risks
Despite increased emphasis on equity, inclusion, and youth empowerment within FSN, gender and youth data remain insufficiently collected, analyzed, and used. This creates significant challenges for designing, implementing, and evaluating responsive and inclusive interventions. Some common challenge to the production and use of evidence include capacity limitation (gaps in technical expertise), lack of disaggregated data (failure to break down data by gender or age), inconsistent data collection (varying definition, indicators and approaches), restrictive cultural and social norms (cultural taboos around gender roles or limited participation of youth to decision processes), and logistical or financial constraints (costly and resource intensive data collection and processes).
Inadequate evidence can resulting misdiagnosis of community needs, missed opportunities for targeted solutions, ineffective or inequitable program design, or reinforcement of existing inequalities. To avoid these pitfalls, efforts to mainstream gender and youth must begin with improving evidence production and use to inform better programming.
Our guide on youth and gender evidence: developing a culture of evidence
Through this guide we provide researchers, practitioners and policymakers with resources to effectively integrate gender and youth evidence across food systems research, programming and decision-making. The guide provides practical steps, conceptual frameworks, and evidence-informed tools to help users:
- Understand why gender and youth matter in FSN outcomes
- Produce and use evidence through a gender or youth sensitive approach
- Apply a gender and youth responsive lens across the project cycle—from design to implementation and evaluation
- Identify and address common barriers to evidence use on gender and youth in FSN
- Translate findings into actionable strategies tailored to diverse audiences
- Contribute to more inclusive, equitable, and effective food systems
The guide aims to strengthen the role of gender and youth in shaping sustainable solutions to food security, food systems, and nutrition challenges by promoting a structured and participatory approach to evidence generation and use.
