LIDERANÇA FEMININA E SEGURANÇA ALIMENTAR INFANTIL NOS MUNICÍPIOS BRASILEIROS

Abstract

One of the major challenges for Brazilian economic development is to eliminate hunger and malnutrition, especially among children. In this context, agriculture plays a fundamental role as a food provider. The objective of this study is to assess whether a greater female presence in the management of agricultural establishments is associated with lower rates of malnutrition among children up to five years of age. To this end, the quasi-experimental Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method is used. The treatment group consists of municipalities belonging to spatial clusters with a high female presence in charge of agricultural activities, and the control group consists of similar municipalities that do not belong to these clusters. The data on female leadership are from the latest Agricultural Census (IBGE, 2017), and the indicators of child malnutrition are from the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (Ministry of Health, 2026). The results indicate that female leadership reduces the rate of malnourished children in municipalities where family farming predominates. Therefore, family farming acts as a mediator of the effect of female leadership on child malnutrition.