All over the world, women often have the responsibility for feeding their families, especially buying, preparing, and cooking food. So it’s fairly obvious that
it’s women who are really feeling the impact of rising prices. This was clear when I travelled around north-west Peru in August, talking to women about their priorities and problems.“As women we are seriously affected,” says Felicia Abad, 33, a baker and busy mum of two teenagers in
Felicia
Chulucanas, near Piura. “In a year, rice has risen from 1 Nuevo Sol [20p] to 3 Nuevos Soles [60p] a kilo. Beans used to be
1 Nuevo Sol a kilo, now they are 4 Nuevos Soles [75p]. It’s terrible.”The men I speak to know that prices are rising, but it’s the women who are feeling the impact. Whenever
I asked men about it, they’d always defer to their wife or daughter to explain just how much prices have risen, and what it means for their family.Everyone woman I speak to has a similar
story. “There is less to eat now,” says Albertina Mida, 42, from Tambogrande. “Prices are increasing, our income is down and we don’t produce as much, so we need to reduce what
we eat. Cooking oil has gone up from 4 to 8 Nuevos Soles [75p to £1.50] a litre. To save oil, we don’t fry our food any more. We need to adapt to cooking without oil,
jungle-style!”Despite her jokes, it’s clear that the rising food prices are hitting hard. And it’s not just the cost of food. Farmer and mum of two, Alejandrina Nima, is
struggling with the rising price of fertiliser.“We try to sow plants, but fertiliser is so expensive,” she says. “50 kilos of fertiliser costs 140 Nuevos Soles
Alejandrina
[about £24],
and just 10 days ago it was 120 Soles [£20]. We would need 150 kilos just for our mangoes, so we can’t buy it any more. We use organic manure from our sheep, but the crops don’t
grow the same.”The response of many is to buy and eat less and less, and it’s usually women who have to make sacrifices for their families. Alejandrina admits that she
doesn’t buy any food any more, “we can only eat what we grow”, whilst Felicia says she needs to be “creative” to feed her children. “We just eat rice with beans, we
don’t use cheese or milk or butter.”“We have had to go down from 10 to 6 kilos of rice per week,” agrees Albertina. “And from 2 litres to 1 litre of cooking oil.
6 kilos of rice feeds three people for a week. I struggle to feed the family.”And when these women look for answers, like many of us they turn to their government. “The prices are
going up because we export our rice,” argues Albertina. “Our farmers are producing rice but don’t have support or subsidies from the government.” More from
the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A nurse looks at a sign regarding AIDS as she walks in the grounds of Beijing You An Hospital October 17, 2008. Women must be more involved in the fight against ...
