Abstract:
Food security is a major development issue which has been prioritised in domestic economic policies of
many developing countries. Recently, there is an increasing trend of directing food security policies towards
empowering women, because, many studies have revealed that women play a significant role in reducing
poverty and food insecurity in their households. However, there is a dearth of studies that discusses the
women's role in achieving household food security in the context of Sri Lanka, even though women are
culturally assigned a huge responsibility in almost all the household tasks including household food
management. Hence, this study attempted to analyze the women's role in household food security in Sri
Lanka in the rural context. The primary data was gathered from a cross sectional sample survey in
Thirappane division in the Anuradhapura district, and the data was collected from 100 households which
were selected based on simple random sampling method. To achieve the objectives, both descriptive and
econometric methods were used in the data analysis. The study found that women play a strong role in
assuring household food security in all three dimensions of food security; they make a significant
contribution to farming and thereby household food availability, their contribution to income is crucial in
household food access especially in low income households, and their nutritional knowledge is also
important inthe proper utilization of food in households. Furthermore, the study estimated a regression
model using ordinary least square (OLS) method and could identify that women's income, their nutritional
knowledge, and their use of indigenous food management knowledge as important determinants of household
food security in rural households. Accordingly, the results suggested that the food security policies in the
country should be aimed at empowering women's capacities through income and education to yield better
outcomes.
